Last year, the long-rumored Marvel Cinematic Universe debut of Spider-Man happened in Captain America: Civil War. It was supposedly the dawn of a new era of cooperation between Sony, Marvel, and Disney that allowed Tom Holland’s wall crawler to headline Spider-Man: Homecoming and its sequel, in addition to two additional MCU films (which will apparently be Avengers: Infinity War and the currently untitled fourth Avengers film). But just as Marvel was basking in the glory of a well-received trailer for Homecoming, a former Sony executive has suggested that Spidey’s MCU run might be short-lived. Today’s Nerdist News is investigating what it means for the future of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Join host and Silver Sable’s best freelance operative, Jessica Chobot, as she examines the oddly timed comments of Amy Pascal, one of the executive producers of Spider-Man: Homecoming. While Pascal praised the three companies for coming together on the Spider-Man deal, she intimated that Sony could opt out of the deal after Spider-Man: Homecoming 2. It sounds ridiculous, and yet it makes sense given the news from the past few weeks.
You may have heard that Sony is planning a standalone film for Venom and a Black Cat/Silver Sable movie, both of which will be set outside of the MCU. Those seemed like strange moves at the time, but if Sony is planning its own Marvel movie universe, then the studio may want to pull back on the rights to Spidey and exclusively ensnare him in their web. That may not make fans very happy, but we can see the logic in that.
However, it seems extremely premature for Sony to sacrifice the good will they created by bringing Spidey back to Marvel. It’s far too soon to say if Homecoming‘s MCU connections are enough to make moviegoers come back in huge numbers after the Amazing Spider-Man film series. But we wouldn’t bet against it, and with a healthy dose of Robert Downey, Jr.’s Iron Man, no one can say that Marvel didn’t fully get behind this Spidey reboot. If Homecoming is a hit, we think that staying with Marvel is absolutely the best move for Sony. But it will be a few months before we can fully judge that film.
What do you think about Spidey’s potential Marv-exit? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!
Image: Sony, Marvel
