Say it isn’t so! Spider-Man is out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe if Sony and Disney cannot come to an agreement.
BuzzFeed News has confirmed that Marvel Studios is set to part ways with Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man franchise in a shocking development on August 20.
The decision will ultimately remove the version of Peter Parker played by Tom Holland from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Sony Pictures has owned the movie rights to Spider-Man for decades. From the 2000s Toby Maguire version to the 2012 and 2014 Andrew Garfield versions, Sony has had many successes and some downfalls with the beloved Marvel character.
In 2015, Sony entered an agreement with Disney-owned Marvel Studios to share the superhero. This meant that Marvel would get to use the character in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
Sony’s most recent Spider-Man movies were produced by Kevin Feige: Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home. With the launch of these movies, Tom Holland’s version of Spidey was fully integrated into the MCU.
However, neither Disney or Sony shared much of the box office grosses from either recent use of the character.
According to Buzzfeed News, Disney stipulated to Sony that it wanted to split future Spider-Man movies as a 50/50 co-financing arrangement — which also meant a 50/50 split in the profits. Sony — which produces said no. Disney said fine, removed Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios as producers of Sony’s future Spider-Man films, and kicked the character out of the MCU sandbox.
Needless to say, fans are distraught. There’s still hope that Spider-Man’s fate within the MCU could be salvaged.
This is a developing story.
