What Just Happened to Spider-Man?

It’s been a busy month for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. After Sony and Disney split from their Spider-Man sharing deal in a manner that blew up the media, they’ve recently reconciled after a month of separation, seemingly pleased to be back in action together with a clear plan for the future. So exactly what just happened and why? To truly answer that question, we need to take it back a decade. 

When Iron Man first premiered in movie theaters in 2008, fans were thrilled to see a live-action adaptation of an iconic Marvel character. More importantly, they were greeted with an additional surprise; a scene after the credits rolled that would change Hollywood forever, with Samuel L. Jackson hinting to fans that the Avengers would make a big-screen debut in the future. Flash forward four years, and The Avengers assembled for the ultimate team-up that would topple countless Box Office records including the highest grossing opening weekend of all time, and the 3rd highest grossing movie of all time (as of 2012 when it first released). And as of today, Marvel has taken in over $22.5 billion from 23 successful films in their Marvel Cinematic Universe (and that’s not even counting the revenue of toys, collectibles, DVDs/downloads, and tie-in TV shows) and taken home 3 Oscar awards and 18 nominations total. However, one shouldn’t shy away from the fact that they recently released a film titled Avengers: Endgame that took the world by storm and made history by taking the crown from James Cameron’s 2009 hit Avatar to become the new highest grossing movie of all time.

One of the most significant events in Marvel Cinematic Universe history came in 2015, with the reveal that Spider-Man, previously exclusive to Sony Pictures, would now be joining the Avengers and Marvel Studios. Initially, a hack in late 2014 exposed ongoing discussions between Sony and Marvel about the character, with a formal announcement coming months later. Now, with the beloved Tom Holland portraying the web slinger, he’s appeared in 5 MCU movies and has become a fan favorite over the years. But that almost completely changed back in August 2019.

So What Happened First?

Reported by Deadline on August 20th, 2019, the article revealed that Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, would no longer be the producer in future Spider-Man projects “because of an inability by Disney and Sony Pictures to reach new terms.” Previously, Disney and Sony’s partnership involved splitting the profit of the movie’s gross at a 95-5 percent ratio, with Sony raking in that majority since Spider-Man is their property, and Disney making up for that by collecting all sales from merchandise sold. However, the studio was interested in bargaining for a new deal with Sony that would make it a 50-50 split. Seeing as how the most recent film, Spider-Man: Far From Home, made over $1 billion, it’s not a surprise to see that the house of mouse wants a bigger piece of the pie. Sony turned that down; it’s their most valuable franchise, and they weren’t interested in giving up half of it. Afterward, more dominoes fell, and then headlines came.

How Did People React?

Fans stormed the internet following the breaking news. Many felt that the ever-growing MCU was dependent on Spider-Man’s role in the future and how the company would shape his character going forward. They were disheartened to hear that he was suddenly out of the picture with little explanation, especially since he had just appeared in a sequel one month prior that ended on a major cliffhanger.

Soon after, Sony issued a statement regarding the conflicting rumors on the topic. The studio said that they “are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have [Kevin Feige] 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.”

Recently, Feige opened up on the situation, expressing that, in regards to the situation, “[I’m feeling] gratitude and joy. 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.”

When Spider-Man actor Tom Holland was asked his thoughts on the situation, he responded in a similar manner with gratitude and positivity: “Basically, we’ve made five great movies. It’s been five amazing years. I’ve had the time of my life. Who knows what the future holds? But all I know is that I’m going to continue playing Spider-Man and having the time of my life. It’s going to be so fun, however we choose to do it. The future for Spider-Man will be different, but it will be equally as awesome and amazing, and we’ll find new ways to make it even cooler.”

Why is Sony involved with Marvel properties?

So why does Sony even own Spider-Man anyways? If they’re all a part of the same comic book universe, why aren’t they all owned by Marvel Studios? To answer that question, one must look back to 1996, in a time when Marvel was nearing bankruptcy.

They were forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (where large companies seek to restructure their debt). This came after the comic book industry started to collapse, and so did Marvel as a company. Looking for some quick cash to keep them alive, they sold their film rights away (which at the time may not have seemed like such a bad idea after multiple attempts at Marvel films that were less than admirable). The Hulk was given to Paramount; 21st Century Fox grabbed Daredevil, the X-Men, and Fantastic Four, and Sony gained Spider-Man (reportedly for only $7 million, and insanely cheap price for the now billion dollar franchise it is today). This eventually led to Fox jumpstarting X-Men films that brought superhero films back into the mainstream, and Sony producing the extremely successful and popular Spider-Man films with Tobey Maguire and directed by Sam Raimi. After a quick reboot of the franchise in 2012 when Andrew Garfield took the reins as the character, criticism weighed the films down and led to the current deals of Marvel and Sony collaborating. On the side of all this, a merger between Disney and Fox resulted in the Fox-owned characters returning to Marvel Studios/MCU (since Disney now owns Fox), setting up for a bright future with plenty of new characters for the company to toy with in their upcoming Phase 4 and Phase 5 plans.

Had this plan with Sony and Disney breaking up been final, this would have meant that, since Feige and the MCU are now on the outside, Spider-Man would no longer appear in the MCU. All crossovers that have fulfilled many fans’ dreams over the years would have no longer been allowed to continue following the new terms. 

Luckily, that is not the case anymore.

The New Deal: The Solution to this Great (Spider-Man) Depression

On September 27th, 2019, it was announced to the joy of many that Spider-Man would be back in the MCU, with Kevin Feige stating that “I am thrilled that Spidey's journey in the MCU will continue, and I and all of us at Marvel Studios are very excited that we get to keep working on it...Spider-Man is a powerful icon and hero whose story crosses all ages and audiences around the globe. He also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-verse you never know what surprises the future might hold.” While some of this is vague and leaves further questions for the future, the passion for this character is obvious among many involved in these films. Clearly excited by the news, Tom Holland posted a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street to his social media, where the main character repeats “I’m not leaving, I’m not leaving.” The new terms say that the character is signed up to star in a third film to close his respective trilogy, as well as being able to appear in another future MCU film.

While it’s been a long and hard month for Spider-Man films, if anything, it’s shown that the love for this character is incredibly deep, and we have no one else to thank for that other than the legendary Steve Ditko and beloved Stan Lee. For fans and beyond, all that’s left to do is wait until July 16, 2021, for the next Spider-Man film. Only then will we see what’s in store for wall crawler in the future, as we follow him through his journey, remaining in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

By Max Meyers