Spider-Man is reportedly out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). According to Deadline, Marvel and Sony, the latter of which holds the cinematic rights to Spider-Man, were unable to reach a deal on making future MCU films starring the wisecracking webslinger. This means that Spider-Man: Far From Home could be the last MCU movie to feature Spider-Man, though Tom Holland could continue the role in separate Sony films.
The specifics behind the legal licensing agreements that allowed Spider-Man to appear in Disney's MCU movies have not been publicly released. All we know is that Sony licensed out Spidey to appear in Marvel Studios and Disney's Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and in return Sony were allowed to include MCU characters in their Spider-Man movies. The deal meant that Marvel Studios creative boss Kevin Feige served as producer on Sony's Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home movies, the same role he's filled for every film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Disney would collect some of the profits of the Spider-Man MCU films, but the majority would go to Sony in the previous deal. According to Deadline's report, Disney wanted a bigger financial cut of the standalone Spider-Man movies and Sony refused the offer.
It's possible that the two companies will be able to reach a compromise before this business disagreement would affect future films, especially since this news has gone public. As it stands right now, however, there won't be any more MCU movies featuring Spider-Man. Who knows what canon-jumping explanation Sony will use to keep making Spider-Man movies starring Holland without any Avengers around.
Chances are, this means that a Spider-Man and Venom crossover is finally on the table. And that's something, right? Right…?
See what this could mean with our Marvel Phase 4 rundown.
