Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has revealed that Spider-Man was never meant to be part of the MCU forever.
In 2015, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios entered into an unprecedented deal to share the rights to Spider-Man. The deal meant that Spidey could finally appear in the MCU, and that Marvel would consult with Sony for two standalone movies starring Tom Holland.
Holland first appeared in Captain America: Civil War after being cast the same year the deal was struck. Spider-Man has since appeared in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and the solo films Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home. It’s also important to note that Far From Home was Sony’s biggest hit to date.
Earlier this week it was reported that negotiations between Marvel and Sony ended after Sony and Disney couldn’t agree on how to keep Marvel Studios involved in the films.
It’s been widely reported that Disney wanted a 50/50 split on the profits of future Spider-Man movies, however, Deadline is now reporting that Disney initially only asked for a 25 per cent stake. Sony apparently didn’t do anything with that for months, leading to Disney asking for the 50 per cent.
With the public outcry from fans about Spidey’s exit, it’s unknown if the first 25 per cent offer will be put back on the table to allow the character to stay in the MCU.
However, Feige is now claiming Marvel Studios told the story they wanted with Spidey and never saw the partnership as permanent.
Entertainment Weekly chatted to Feige about how his reaction to the news and he told them, “I’m feeling about Spider-Man 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.”
While the deal was never meant to last forever, it had already been extended once before so we find it a little difficult to believe Feige’s last comments. Spider-Man was even included on the banners for the D23 expo – surely this wouldn’t have been the case if they knew the deal would break down as it did.
Spider-Man: Far From Home also seemed to set Peter Parker up for a bigger MCU story, not end it, so it’ll be very interesting to see how Sony works around that.
EW also spoke to Holland about Spider-Man’s future and he revealed he will continue to play the character and have “the time of my life”.
“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.”
While promoting his new animated film Onward at the D23 expo, Holland also told the crowd, “Hey everyone, it’s been a crazy week but I want you all to know from the bottom of my heart that I love you 3000.”
Disney has previously fired James Gunn and then later re-hired him for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, so perhaps there’s a tiny chance of Sony and Marvel agreeing on another deal. That being said, it does sound like Feige has made his peace with not having Spidey in the MCU.