It’s been a stressful day for Marvel and Spider-Man fans, as reports have surfaced about Sony and Marvel Studios parting ways with the titular Spider-Man character. For the past 4 years, Sony has been sharing the movie rights to Spider-Man with Disney/Marvel Studios, allowing the character to appear in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, while also being a part of his own films Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home respectively in the same universe.
While many have assumed these reports to be exaggerated, it seems that a statement from Sony posted by THR all but confirms the nail in the coffin.
“Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise. We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film. We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him – including all their newly added Marvel properties – do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own. Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue.”
It is uncertain what this could mean for the future of Spider-Man. Maybe they could continue the story of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker without any mention of other MCU characters? Probably unlikely considering just how important the other heroes are to his story – especially Tony Stark.
We know Sony will be continuing their universe of Spider-Man villains with Morbius in 2020 and a sequel to Venom directed by Andy Serkis. What this means for the web-slinger though, we have no idea.