For the past few years, the rights to Spider-Man have been held by Sony. Their previous movies, Spider-Man 1 and 2 (Tobey Maguire) and The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2, held decent ratings and were kept completely separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
In February of 2015, Sony, Marvel Studios, and Disney came to an agreement which allowed Sony to have the final call on solo Spider-Man films, leaving Disney to have control of the films where he is not a main character.
In recent times, Marvel Studios, Sony, and Disney failed to come to an agreement over to co-finance the film. This situation started due to the smashing success of Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, which became the highest grossing film of all time for Sony Pictures. Disney was hoping to gain a 50/50 profit deal with Sony, yet the company turned down the offer. So what does this mean for Spider-Man in the MCU and producer Kevin Feige?
Sony Pictures released a statement stating, “We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him [Kevin Feige] continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film.” Fans have expressed their concerns all over social media, stating, “#BoycottSony” and “#BringBackSpiderman.”
Among those concerned for the uncertainty of Spider-Man’s future was Hawkeye actor Jeremy Renner, who spoke out on Instagram by saying, “Hey @sonypictures we want Spider-Man back to @therealstanlee and @marvel please, thank you.”
Sophomore Logan Lemire expressed his feelings about this situation, stating, “I think it really doesn’t make any financial sense” and “Both Sony and Disney will be both struggling in this endeavor.”
So what does this mean for future films? As of now, we know that Spider-Man will no longer be a part of the MCU, and Sony has two new movies planned for later on. Whether or not these films will include Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Jon Watts, former director of the first two Spider-Man films in the MCU.
Whether or not Spider-Man will come back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is uncertain, as no one knows if Disney will come to terms with Sony and call off its requests.
