Sam Zwick

Image courtesy: Jay Maidment/PR via The Guardian

Now and then, someone tells you about their favorite weird food combo. Maybe it’s pickles and peanut butter, to which the normal response is “eww.” Or it’s potato chips inside a chocolate chip cookie, and suddenly, your brain starts thinking that that combination of two things you never considered together might actually be magical. (It is; I’ve tried it. Salty, sweet, just great stuff.)

Putting characters together is similar. Some make sense right off the bat – Deadpool and Wolverine, for instance – while other combinations feel less natural – The Punisher once teamed up with Archie and the Riverdale gang, believe it or not.

As the rumor mill begins to churn surrounding the recently announced Spider-Man 4, fans have already begun to speculate on which MCU heroes the Wall-Crawler will team up with next. Some are obvious – Daredevil, eventually Deadpool – but we’re not here for the obvious. This is a list of three MCU characters Peter Parker should encounter because, like potato chips in cookies, sometimes the best combinations are the least likely. 

3. Jimmy Woo and/or Mobius

This is really just a ploy to get three of the MCU’s most charming and lovable characters together. Can you imagine the banter? Peter and Woo trying to make sense of the Sacred Timeline while Mobius laces his explanation of the TVA with a sales pitch for jet skis. These three may not advance the overarching plot of the MCU, but sometimes, a breath of fresh air is needed, and this combination would be just that. 

2. Bucky Barnes

Vinegar and oil don’t mix unless you put them together and shake them up really fast. That’s how I imagine a Bucky/Peter combination would play out. Bucky is generally serious and chooses his words carefully. Peter likes to have fun and chooses his words based entirely on what hits his tongue first. Add in a general difference in morality and this pair would get interesting fast. 

1. Yelena Belova

At the moment, Peter’s love life is in flux since M.J. doesn’t remember him. Who better to fill that hole in Spider-Man’s heart than a world-class assassin? For the record, I don’t think this pair as a romantic duo would work, but it would be fun to see Peter develop a school-boy crush on a Black Widow who charms and frightens him in equal measures.