It’s been a little over two weeks since the news broke that Disney and Sony’s Spider-Man partnership dissolved due to financial disagreements, and it remains a popular topic in the entertainment sphere. Given how much Spider-Man has thrived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s been talk about if the two studios could work out their differences and come to a new arrangement concerning the Web-Slinger.
Sadly for those of you who are wanting Tom Holland’s Peter Parker to stay in the MCU, Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra said that “for the moment the door is closed” on a reconciliation between Disney and Sony, though he added that there is “no ill will” between the two sides. Vinciquerra also noted that “it’s a long life,” implying there may come a time when Spidey could swing back into the MCU.
For now though, the current live-action Spider-Man will go back to appearing in Sony-only productions and will not cross paths with any MCU characters. While speaking with Variety, Tony Vinciquerra mentioned that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige being “stretched incredibly thin” with all the new properties being added to the MCU, i.e. the X-Men and Fantastic Four, was one of the reasons talks broke down. Vinciquerra continued:
We had a great run with (Feige) on Spider-Man movies. We tried to see if there’s a way to work it out….the Marvel people are terrific people, we have great respect for them, but on the other hand we have some pretty terrific people of our own. Kevin didn’t do all the work.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was introduced in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and went on to appear in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Although he’s now been separated from all the other MCU heroes, it’s still unclear if future Spider-Man movies will at least be able to reference Peter Parker’s time in the MCU, particularly since Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, was so integral to his superhero journey.
Looking to the future, Tony Vinciquerra isn’t worried about not having any Marvel Studios folks working on more Spider-Man movies, saying Tom Holland’s version of the character will do “just fine” outside of the MCU and pointing to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the Amazon Prime series The Boys as examples of Sony’s recent accomplishments in the superhero realm. As Vinciquerra put it:
Spider-Man was fine before the event movies, did better with the event movies, and now that we have our own universe, he will play off the other characters as well. I think we’re pretty capable of doing what we have to do here.
The “universe” Tony Vinciquerra refers to is the franchise that kicked off last year with Venom and will continue with Venom 2 and Morbius, with other movies like Nightwatch, Sinister Six, Black Cat and Silver Sable in development. When Spider-Man was still operating in the MCU, it was unclear if he’d ever cross paths with Venom and the other denizens of Sony’s Marvel universe, but now that he’s left the MCU, it sounds like Vinciquerra and the Sony brass are already planning ways for Peter Parker to become a major player in this other world.
But like Tony Vinciquerra said, perhaps Spider-Man could return to the MCU someday. After all, few people thought James Gunn would be rehired for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after Disney fired him in the summer of 2018, and then this past March, the Mouse House reversed its decision and brought Gunn back. As time passes, maybe Spider-Man’s film status will similarly reverse back to what we got used to in the latter half of this decade.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all the biggest updates concerning Spider-Man on film, and in the meantime, keep track of what the MCU has coming down the big screen pipeline with our comprehensive guide.
