Disney’s Marvel and Sony’s latest standoff may have jeopardized the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Spider-man.  

It’s only been two years since ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ debuted in the MCU, and already the future is looking bleak for the Tom Holland version of the web-slinger. 

Sony has been making Spider-Man movies since 2002, with the original Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Tobey Maguire. The original trilogy was undoubtedly iconic and embedded into many of our childhoods. However, Raimi’s fourth Spider-Man was cancelled before production began. 

Sony, having to continue making Spider-Man movies (lest the rights to the character revert to Marvel), rebooted the Spider-Man franchise with the release of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ in 2012 starring Andrew Garfield. However, the movie and its sequel were deemed underwhelming when compared to the original trilogy.

Fueled by Sony’s consistent mistreatment of the Spider-Man franchise, and the prospect of having every Marvel character be apart of the cinematic universe, fans were more than ecstatic to hear that the next Spider-Man movie would be produced by Marvel.

And the movie was, dare I say, spectacular. 

The MCU’s ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ grossed approximately $58.5 million more than Raimi’s original Spider-Man in 2002. 

Fans and critics across the spectrum praised Tom Holland’s portrayal of the famous web-crawler. Marvel had found a way to combine the beloved parts of the two previous Spider-Men and made something greater.

That, alongside the integration of Spider-Man into the Avengers and the development of Peter Parker’s and Tony Stark’s father/son type relationship, made fans more excited for the direction that the MCU’s Spider-Man was heading in. 

Unfortunately, just weeks after Marvel’s cinematic touch led ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ to become Sony’s highest-grossing film of all time. The two companies have seemed to reach an impasse in their latest deal. 

The internet had an emotional breakdown after learning a few days ago that Sony/Marvel may call quits on their Spider-Man deal, which would effectively pull the Spider-Man character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Many fans, including Jeremy Renner who plays the ‘Hawkeye’, expressed their grief and dismay over the idea that Spidey might no longer continue to be a part of the MCU. 

In response to the many headlines and backlash they received, Sony has released an official statement in regards to the situation. They labelled the stories as “mischaracterized” and attributed Spider-Man’s departure to Marvel president Kevin Fiege’s increased workload and time constraints. Claiming that Disney wants Fiege to focus on the characters they own, which has now grown to include the ‘X-Men’ as well as planning out the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe which includes the much anticipated ‘Black Widow’ movie. 

Regardless of whichever company is at fault, one grim factor remains clear; it is incredibly unlikely that we will see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the next phase of the MCU. 

This may not entirely be a bad thing, as Sony has shown their potential with the release of ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’. 

However, as proven by the numbers, the best course for Spider-Man to take would be to remain in the MCU. Hopefully, both companies will realize this and arrive at a compromise that would benefit themselves and fans alike, before it’s too late.

— Rolando Alberts