If only all friendships were as strong as Tony Stark and Peter Park… nevermind. It looks like Spider-Man won’t make it into another instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) anytime soon, after Disney (aka Marvel Studios, aka Kevin Feige) and Sony were unable to reach an agreement regarding the co-financing of its titles.
This comes just as we found out the recent Spider-Man: Far from Home title surpassed the $1 billion mark at the box office. It’s a shame this relationship between Sony and Disney didn’t work out — they could’ve made a lot of money together.
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“I don’t feel so good, Mr Stark”
Just so you know, Marvel Studios did not have access to the Spider-Man franchise when the MCU started out. Sony has had exclusive rights since… well, since they paid for them. But in the interests of more money, the two companies struck up a deal, which gave Marvel (in turn, Disney) five percent of gross box-office revenue. This all happened after the financial disappointment of Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The two corporates essentially had to share the character while Sony made the majority of the profit.
But, like a messy divorce, things didn’t go too well and it’s the youngsters that suffer. Talks between the two have been ongoing, finally concluding after Marvel insisted on a 50/50 profit share on all titles starring the character. Sony didn’t like that idea, hence the sudden removal of Spidey from the MCU.
It’s a sad day to be an MCU fan, as fans have grown to love Tom Holland’s involvement in the Avengers. After appearing in Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, Tom Holland’s depiction of Spidey set him up as a crucial character for the rest of the series. And now, all that setup is for nothing. Maybe.
This doesn’t mean we won’t see Spider-Man in any upcoming titles, it just means we probably won’t see him joined by or joining others from the MCU in future, which is a massive bummer. Unless, that is, talks resume and the folks at Disney/Marvel and Sony work something out. Come on, do it for the kid.
Source: Deadline via The Verge
