Spider-Man's Sandman Actor Thomas Haden Chuch May Return To The MCU

Little has been confirmed about the future of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, but new information hints at who Spidey could face off against in future movies.

Although Spider-Man 4 has been confirmed by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, nothing more than Tom Holland and Zendaya’s involvement has been announced. Spider-Man: No Way Home ended with Peter Parker deciding to erase the whole world’s memory of him to save the multiverse. The life-changing decision also opens up the possibility for Spider-Man to embark on a journey to reverse the effects of the spell he had Doctor Strange cast at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. With so many options available to New York City’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, fans have wondered which direction the franchise will go.

There may be an answer to that question from an unexpected source. In an interview with Pilot Productions, Thomas Haden Church – who played Sandman in Spider-Man: No Way Home – revealed that he may be more involved in the MCU than expected. “Jon [Watts], and I had, and Amy Pascal the lead producer, and Kevin [Feige], we all had a lot of conversations. And I would say… conversations have been had about the possibility of Sandman coming into a future iteration of it. The conversation has happened about him coming back, and maybe picking up a more fulfilling story with Flint and being not just Sandman, but returning to human form, because there was a story of that.” Church expanded on potentially coming back in the form of Flint Marko, saying, “Jon and I have talked about the possibility in the future that he can come back as Flint Marko. So yeah, that’s been discussed.”

Church’s Sandman first appeared in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, teaming up with Venom to defeat Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man. He was brought back as part of the multiversal catastrophe that kicked off the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. While Church provided the voice for Sandman, he never got a chance to be on-set for the movie. The one shot of Church as Flint Marko wasn’t even filmed for the movie – it was taken from Spider-Man 3. If Church comes back as Flint Marko, that broadens the scope of possibility for what the character could get up to in Phase Five of the MCU.

While it’s possible that Sandman could return as a villain for Spider-Man 4 or that Flint Marko could appear as a more neutral character, it’s also possible that Sandman could take up more space in the MCU. With all the discussions surrounding the character’s future, Church could be looking at getting his own movie. Although this is entirely unconfirmed, Spider-Man villains like Venom and Morbius have recently starred in their own movies, meaning a Sandman movie isn’t totally outside the realm of possibility. The specifics remain unclear, but Marvel might not be done with Sandman yet.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is available to stream on Starz.