Play it again, Pete.
It looks like the tangled web that is Spider-Man, Sony, and Disney’s Marvel Studios is giving it one more go. After a public split between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios seemed destined to cut the famous web-slinger out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a new report suggests that the parting of ways announced in August might not be as final as fans initially feared.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony and Marvel are back at the negotiation table, working on a deal that will bring Spider-Man back to the MCU for at least one more movie. The deal will reportedly put Marvel and studio President (as well as chief MCU architect) Kevin Feige back in a producer role for another film featuring Tom Holland as teenage superhero Peter Parker.
The deal has big implications for the future of both Spider-Man and the MCU, the latter of which recently concluded its third phase of interconnected films with this year’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. That film finished on a pretty substantial cliffhanger, leaving fans wondering how the series could possibly continue if Spider-Man was to be completely excised from Marvel’s movie-verse.
With Sony already planning an ambitious slate of films set within its own, interconnected universe based on Spider-Man characters — including the sequel to Venom and an upcoming film featuring Morbius, a vampire antihero — the new film could end up serving as a bridge from the MCU to that universe for Spider-Man.
Further, the news that Sony and Disney can still play nice together could mean this won’t be the last we see of Spidey in Marvel’s sprawling, interconnected universe — a welcome relief for fans who wondered how this awkward exit of one of Marvel’s best-loved superheroes would affect the MCU going forward.
In fact, it’s arguable that, with Sony and Disney on friendly terms, Spider-Man’s stock in the MCU could actually go up. The prospect that Spidey could suddenly show up at any time and without warning in the MCU should only elevate his status going forward.
There’s been no official confirmation of the new deal between Sony and Marvel at this point, so fans will likely want to be cautious with their hopes for the next chapter of Spider-Man’s big-screen adventures.
That said, if the report is officially confirmed, the future of Spidey, the MCU, and even Sony’s new film series suddenly looks a lot brighter.
