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Everyone knows that Spider-Man does whatever a spider can, but what does that entail, really? It’s more than just crawling walls and shooting webs, to hear fans tell it. 

With the third Tom Holland Spider-Man movie not due out until late next year, fans have even more time than before to ponder such matters. And they would like to see Spider-Man use the full range of his powers in that third movie. That full range includes super strength, which he may need to fight his next rumored villain. 

What are Spider-Man’s powers? 

Tom Holland
Tom Holland | Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

When people think of Spider-Man’s powers, they tend to think of the obviously spider-like ones — the ability to stick to surfaces, shooting webs (which may or may not be a power depending on which version is in question) and the spider-sense that helps him avoid imminent danger. 

That’s not the entirety of it, though. Here’s the full list, according to Marvel’s official site

Superhuman strength, agility, endurance, ability to stick to and climb walls and other surfaces, uses self-designed web-shooters allowing him to fire and swing from sticky webs, special “Spider-Sense” warns of incoming danger, genius intellect specializing in chemistry and invention.

We’ve certainly seen Spider-Man use super strength in the MCU movies. He wouldn’t have been able to corral two halves of a ferry in Spider-Man: Homecoming otherwise. But he arguably has not yet faced a villain against whom strength would be the best weapon.  

What would fans like to see?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj_xZVgBIgc

Fans on Reddit discussed Spidey’s powers, with the topic-starter pointing out: “Spidey is INSANELY strong, to the point he doesn’t even know how strong he is …Good example: While watching Civil War, we see Cap fight Bucky/Winter Soldier a few times, and he’s just barely able to hold off Bucky’s cybernetic arm. Then later during the airport fight when Buck throws a similar punch towards Spidey, he just stops the punch mid-throw like it’s nothing, to the point that even Bucky is shocked.”

Other fans agreed but noted that Holland’s Spider-Man is a teenager who is still finding his way through his powers. In other words, he literally doesn’t know his own strength.

One fan wrote: “I think the holding back thing is significant. Peter effortlessly destroys drones and knocks out Flash in (Far From Home.)  He could easily beat the *** out of villains like Toomes and Beck, who are all tech based. Which is why I think the villain of the 3rd film needs to be a physical threat, someone who forces Peter to use his strength”

When we will see more ‘Spider-Man’ movies?

If the villain of the third movie is Kraven the Hunter, as has been rumored, that might fill the bill. Rather than being tech-based, Kraven’s methodology is largely one of brute force, since he’s a big game hunter and sees Spider-Man as the ultimate prey. 

It will be a while longer before we see the third Holland Spider-Man movie, though. The pandemic has forced studios to shuffle their slates, so here’s what Sony has in the Spider-Man pipeline. Only Spider-Man 3 is MCU- connected. 

Morbius — March 19, 2021. Like Venom, this is a series centering around a frequent Spider-Man villain. Former Joker Jared Leto stars.

Venom 2 – June 25, 2021: Tom Hardy’s schizoid antihero returns for more shenanigans June 25, 2021. 

Spider-Man 3 (placeholder title) — November 5, 2021

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel — October 7, 2022

Holland is also expected to appear in at least one of the Disney/Marvel movies, although which one that would be is not immediately clear. It may be a title that has yet to be announced, although Marvel could surprise us by placing him somewhere in the announced Phase 4 roster of Black Widow, Eternals, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther 2  or Captain Marvel 2