Marvel Boss Kevin Feige Had a Very Different Plan to Deal With Sony's Spider-Man Split

Despite Sony owning the film rights to Spider-Man and his vast library of characters, Marvel Studios has been producing films featuring the character for over six years. That all came to an end for a brief time in 2019, however, after the initial deal between Sony and Marvel wrapped up. Just days before the 2019 D23 Expo that August, word began to spread that suggested Spider-Man would be removed from the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Spider-Man: Far From Home.

As Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige says in The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the news wasn't supposed to hit the ears of the public until much later when the two sides were going to announce an amicable split.

"Our plan was to not mention it until long after Far From Home came out, and just have it be a very amicable thing," Feige says in the book.

Before long, Marvel Studios and Sony renegotiated a deal and Spidey was back in the MCU — and then some. As fans quickly found out while watching Venom: Let There Be Carnage, there's at least some plan to intertwine the two separate cinematic universes currently in development by the studios.

"There was a lot of coordination — and if you don't know all the coordination yet, I'm not going to be the one to tell you — but yes, between Sony and Marvel and the Venom team and the No Way Home team... We worked together on it," Feige confirmed with THR on the red carpet during the Eternals premiere earlier this month.

Mind you, a crossover between the universes is something Feige has teased since the new deal between the studios was first announced.

"I don't want to talk about rumors or speculation on what could happen or couldn't happen as it relates to characters Marvel Studios hasn't brought to the screen yet, but I will say what I've always said having been at Marvel Studios for 20 years, I wouldn't dismiss anything. I wouldn't rule anything out," Feige said earlier this summer.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is set for release on December 17th. What other Spidey-family characters do you think will end up appearing in the upcoming feature? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!