Marvel Studios and Sony End Spider-Man Deal

A reported standoff between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures has ended Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige’s involvement with the Spider-Man film series, according to Deadline. Marvel Studios has helped usher in the latest reboot of the film saga, with Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are reportedly two more movies in the works with Holland and director Jon Watts, but unless something changes in the near future, Kevin Feige will not take the creative lead on those films as he did with the previous two features.

The standoff was reportedly over a reworking of the deal that would see Disney get a 50-50 co-financing stake in the upcoming Spider-Man movies. This news comes after Spider-Man: Far From Home, the second Spider-Man film made with Marvel Studios, became Sony’s highest-grossing film of all time. Sony is even returning the film to theaters with an additional four-minute action scene over the Labor Day weekend. It’s unclear what Feige’s departure means for the in-the-works Watts/Holland movies and their connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

According to Deadline’s report, the deal would have given Disney its stake in the Spider-Man franchise while also bringing Sony’s extended universe of Spider-Man movies such as Venom into the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper. Sony turned the offer down outright without so much as a counteroffer. Sony seems not to want to share what is its biggest film franchise. It instead preferred to keep the current arrangement intact, which sees Disney receiving an approximate 5% of each Spider-Man movie’s first-dollar gross. Feige, reportedly, would have been willing to stay onboard the Spider-Man franchise if the two companies could have come to terms, but their fallout now makes that, at best, unlikely.

For the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s part, Spider-Man is a big loss. The character is arguably the biggest, most popular single hero in Marvel’s stable. On the other hand, Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox brought home the film rights to the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, meaning there’s plenty of intellectual property for the studio to work on outside of the Spider-Man series.

What do you think of this sudden turn for the Spider-Man movies franchise? Let us know in the comments.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.