Avengers Directors Think Sony Made “Tragic Mistake” About Spider-Man

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo crafted the journey for Steve Rogers, taking the super soldier from being Captain America to finally becoming a man who lived his own life. They also helped forge the last three major adventures for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, breaking them in Captain America: Civil War and then bringing them all together in Avengers: Endgame. They’re also the two responsible for introducing Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though that adventure has proven to be very short lived. But the Russo Brothers still have a lot of opinions on how the split went down.

While speaking with the Toronto Sun, Joe and Anthony Russo opened up about the split between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, explaining that it wasn’t a big surprise but that they thought a major mistake was being made.

“It was so difficult to get him into Civil War. It was an extremely long and hard process,” Anthony Russo explained. “But we were driven to help make it happen. But (Marvel Studios President) Kevin Feige pulled it off, somehow. Disney and all the good people at Sony found a way to make it work and it lasted a few films. We had a wonderful experience with that and I think audiences really appreciated that marriage. But we know how hard that marriage was to make in the first place, so the fact that the marriage fell apart isn’t really that surprising to me and Joe.”

Joe Russo added, detailing Sony’s big mistake: “It was a tenuous, fraught union throughout the whole process. But, I will say, stepping back and trying to be objective as possible, that I think it’s a tragic mistake on Sony’s part to think that they can replicate Kevin’s penchant for telling incredible stories and the amazing success he has had over the years. I think it’s a big mistake.”

Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige iterated that he didn’t blame either side in the acrimonious split, but instead wanted to reflect on the five films they made together that helped cement both Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios and some of the most successful production companies in the business.

“I’m feeling about Spider-Man gratitude and joy,” Feige explained to Entertainment Weekly. “We got to make five films within the MCU with Spider-Man: two standalone films and three with the Avengers. It was a dream that I never thought would happen. It was never meant to last forever. We knew there was a finite amount of time that we’d be able to do this, and we told the story we wanted to tell, and I’ll always be thankful for that.”

While fans won’t be able to enjoy future adventures of Peter Parker in the MCU, they can still see his latest adventure in theaters now as Spider-Man: Far From Home continues to play in theaters.