As a huge Spider-Man fan, I think I can speak on behalf of all of us when I say we've been through some serious ups and downs this last decade. Between the cancellation of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4, the reboot starring Andrew Garfield, and the eventual integration of the character into the MCU played by Tom Holland, there hasn't exactly been stability for fans of the webslinger. Well just when we had got our footing, it seems Sony has now ended their deal with Marvel Studios. This deal was what allowed Tom Holland's version of the character into the MCU specifically for big events movies like Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame. The character will now apparently be going back on his own away from all the other Marvel characters, and will remove Spidey and all his supporting characters from availability in future MCU projects.
The news in devastating for a number of reasons, but at first its important to note that Sony was never purchased by Marvel unlike the recent deal with Marvel Studios. Where as characters such as the X-Men and Fantastic Four are now fully under Marvel Studios' control with not threat of leaving, the Sony deal saw a partnership between the two studios that would allow them to use the character and share in the profit. Unfortunately this always left the door open for the possibility of Sony wanting to fully take back the character for themselves, especially after a new successful version of the character was launched by the MCU.
The deal was made in the first place due to struggles Sony was having with the Amazing Spider-Man franchise and the Sony hacks that took place around the same time. There was always the thought this deal could be temporary and that now seems to be the case, with the renegotiating of the deal between Sony and Marvel falling through. Marvel reportedly wanted a 50/50 agreement that would see the pay half for each of the movies in order to receive half of the profit. Sony was not interested in this and feel they can move on from the character without the help of Marvel or Kevin Feige.
Tom Holland's version of the character seemed to be set up as a future staple for the MCU, with the majority of his last film dealing with the legacy left behind by his mentor Iron Man. There were also several non Spider-Man MCU characters involved including Happy Hogan, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill. Its unknown how Sony will account for all these characters or even mentions of them in their new movies, especially with how important they were in Peter Parker's life. Its possible Sony could go the multiverse route by having this Peter crossover into another reality without any of those characters, or focusing on an entirely new version of the character still played by Holland. Overall the whole situation is going to create a headache for both parties involved from a storytelling standpoint. Perhaps the writing was on the wall at this years Comic-Con, where there was no mention of Holland's Spidey at Kevin Feige's Hall H Marvel Panel.
So how do you feel about Spider-Man leaving the MCU? What do you think Sony will do with the character? Let us know below!
