Yesterday, seemingly out of nowhere, film fans were caught completely off-guard by a report that Sony and Disney had walked away from their tenuous, complicated deal that saw the studios share the use of Spider-Man. This means that Marvel Studios and producer Kevin Feige would not be involved in further Spidey adventures, which appears to mean that Peter Parker is effectively snapped out of existence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a second time, with no Infinity Stones to bring him back.
The report pointed to a disagreement over control of the Sony films, particularly with Disney wanting a bigger cut of the financing, and thus, the profits, while also getting a bit more control of the extended ‘Spider-Man’ universe that Sony is crafting. But according to a new statement (via THR), Sony says that the whole thing is blown out of proportion, and it all comes down to Kevin Feige just having way too much on his plate right now.
“Much of today’s news about ‘Spider-Man’ has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise,” said a statement released by Sony. “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.”
So, if you take Sony’s above statement as 100% the truth, then you would be led to believe that Disney decided that Kevin Feige’s schedule is just so busy, so of all the projects that he’s working on, the Mouse House decided it’s best if he dumps the upcoming ‘Spider-Man’ sequel. This is a decision that killed a deal with another studio and makes it so that Tom Holland’s version of the character cannot appear in any other MCU films.
Gotta be honest here, this sounds a little fishy. Actually, it sounds like an entire aquarium’s worth of fishy.
Yes, it’s true that Feige is probably busier now than he has been before, with Marvel Studios not only working on its own films, but also breaking into TV productions, as well as integrating the various ‘X-Men’ and ‘Fantastic Four’ properties from the Fox deal. And yes, there is probably a bit of worry that he’s devoting too much time on ‘Spider-Man,’ since it’s a Sony property. But without Peter Parker, the current MCU has suffered an incredible loss. ‘Far From Home’ is the first ‘Spider-Man’ film to reach $1 billion and, in doing so, has cemented the character’s status as a major force in the MCU. It wouldn’t make sense that Disney would just walk away from a deal without some sort of underlying issue.
READ MORE: Sony Planning ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ Re-Release With Four Minutes Of Deleted Scenes
And let’s be real, the issue here isn’t a busy schedule — it’s money.
Sony made a ton of money with its two most recent ‘Spider-Man’ films and that’s almost completely thanks to Feige and Marvel Studios’ involvement. Putting Peter Parker in the MCU has made the character more important now than ever before, and audiences are treating him the same way that they would Iron Man or Captain America, no matter if Sony’s logo pops on the screen first or Disney’s.
Disney wants a bigger cut. Sony doesn’t want to give up more money. And the Mouse House wants more money if Feige is going to be doing all this work. We’ll just have to see if the path moving forward for the ‘Spider-Man’ franchise includes Marvel Studios or not. It’s quite clear from fan reaction to the news yesterday that everyone wants the deal to happen. Otherwise, this really does feel like Sony is taking the best part of the new franchise and dumping it in favor of having Tom Holland show up in a ‘Venom’ or ‘Morbius’ film. Yep, this is still a big fucking mess.
