In an unexpected and unfortunate turn of events, Marvel Studios will no longer be producing of Spider-Man movies. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige lately announced to have pulled out of producing future Spider-Man movies allegedly due to disputes between Sony and Marvel’s parent company Disney over revenue sharing from films starring the web-slinging hero.
A Sony spokesperson person confirmed the news and said it was disappointing that Feige would no longer act as lead producer on Spider-Man films. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the spokesperson commented, “Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterised 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.”
However, Deadline reported that the deal allegedly ended after both sides failed to reach an agreement that would have given Marvel “a co-financing stake going forward. Sony rejected an offer from Disney that future Spider-Man films be “a 50/50 co-financing arrangement between the studios.” The sources added that Tom Rothman and Tony Vinciquerra from Sony, also offered other configurations, but Disney didn’t agree to that either.
Spider-Man was one of the biggest additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Marvel Studios and Sony first agreed on a deal over Spider-Man in 2015, which allowed Peter Parker aka Spider-Man to become part of the highly-popular in MCU. However, Sony maintained the rights to the character and was responsible for financing, distributing, and “final creative control.”
Tom Holland debuted as the wall-crawler in MCU in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and went on to reprise his role in Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, apart from two successful standalone films- Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, which earned widespread critical praise and became Sony’s highest-grossing film of all-time at the box office.
Naturally, Marvel fans are heart broken about Peter Parker possibly leaving the MCU. Twitter is flooded with tweets about bringing spidey back and even #SaveSpiderMan doing the rounds of social media platforms. Few also pointed out that Tony Stark aka Iron Man played by Robert Downey Jr. didn’t sacrifice or passed on his legacy to Spidey for nothing and seeing such a day in MCU.
Now, it’s a matter of time to see what lies in the fate of the wall crawler as well as Holland as far as MCU is concerned.