Tom Holland will still be Spider-Man, but fans aren’t sure they want him moving out of the MCU.
Chuck Zlotnick
Spider-Man is caught in a tangled web. On Tuesday, Deadline reported that the deal between Marvel and Sony, allowing Spider-Man to show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as in solo pictures for Sony, could be ending.
Details aren’t clear. At first, neither Marvel nor Sony representatives would speak on the record about the deal, for which negotiations may not yet be completed.
Later on Tuesday, Sony came out with a statement saying that recent discussions about Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise had been “mischaracterized,” and that it was Disney’s — not Sony’s — decision not to have Feige serve as a lead producer for the next Spider-Man film.
The short version: It appears that Tom Holland, who’s played Spidey in two stand-alone Sony films as well as the recent Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, will continue to play the webslinger — for Sony, but perhaps without that MCU connection fans so enjoyed.
Anything that relates to Marvel movies is hot these days, so fans naturally had opinions.
Even Jeremy Renner, who plays Hawkeye in the MCU, weighed in. “Hey Sony Pictures, we want Spider-Man back to Stan Lee and Marvel please, thank you,” the actor tweeted. In just two hours, his message was retweeted more than 16,000 times and liked more than 38,000 times.
Fans responded to Hawkeye taking aim at the issue.
how about sony gives us peter back and takes you instead 🥰
— (@msmarvcl) August 21, 2019
Other fans also had things to say.
“I’m sorry, I’m trying to imagine the 3rd Spidey film with it completely ignoring the MCU, and just pretending that Spider-Man was never a part of Marvel,” wrote one Twitter user.
i’m sorry i’m trying to imagine the 3rd spidey film with it completely ignoring the mcu and just pretending that spider-man was never a part of marvel like,,, make it make sense lmfao pic.twitter.com/06orZkUWns
— claire is boycotting sony (@RUEBENNETTT) August 20, 2019
Sony is making a critical error here. An MCU-less Spidey brings us back to an Andrew Garfield-style IP ouroboros. They thinks Venom and Morbius can replace the MCU? Typical. pic.twitter.com/Mj0YSJSJR9
— Scott Collura (@ScottCollura) August 20, 2019
Some even used the same video clip.
Holland’s Spider-Man and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man developed a sweet relationship (uh, spoilers for Avengers: Endgame ahead). And Spider-Man seemed primed to step up into Iron Man’s gigantic metal boots as a real leader. But if Spider-Man’s no longer going to cross over into the MCU, will that “next Iron Man” label just be dismissed as drunk talk?
They’re gonna have to change his entire character fr the roots since they stupidly made him be entirely revolved around Tony Stark. How has Sony even survived this long is astonishing pic.twitter.com/jHMTkvFgyT
— ⚔️ ⚔️ (@Qualixious) August 20, 2019
Sony taking back their Spiderman before the MCU fully turns him from Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man into Iron Man Jnr?
You love to see it pic.twitter.com/C8e8jZwzWl
— 10 (@TheTrebler) August 20, 2019
But not everyone thought this was planet-crushing bad news.
Gosh. If only there was ANY possible way to keep enjoying stories with Spider-Man interacting with the rest of the Marvel Universe.
Any way at all…
— DONNY CATES (@Doncates) August 20, 2019
It’s a smart HIGH LEVEL business play by Sony. Iron Man is dead & Phase 4 = 😴… Spider-Verse & Venom were giant hits without any weakness showing, & didn’t use Feige. Disney MCU needs Spidey more than he needs them 😬 Sony & Marvel’s Spider-Man https://t.co/jCnBgBkXvI pic.twitter.com/lyjd6mNRQE
— Andy Signore (@andysignore) August 20, 2019
The MCU never captured the soul of Spiderman nor did they want to. The pathos was gone, the motivation was gone. As you said, they made him Iron Man Jr. and a goofy clown (and not in the real Spiderman quip kind of way.)
— Jeffrey Riley (@Writeronfire4) August 20, 2019
All this blind fanboy rage. It’s basic numbers, and Sony made the right decision. Sony would make a higher profit from a $700 million grossing film on their own, than a $1.1 billion grossing film, splitting the profits 50/50 with Disney.
— David Crabtree 🇺🇸 (@DavidWCrabtree) August 20, 2019
Marvel Comics and the MCU are entirely different things and people are connected to them in different ways. I’m a fan of both, but people are attached to the MCU depictions of the characters and now we won’t see how Spider-Man might have developed in that world. That sucks.
— Ross Wildish (@RossWildish) August 20, 2019
Haven’t had time to weigh in on SPIDEY yet but one thing that sticks out is the possibility of getting R-rated films in that universe including VENOM 2 now that there is no Disney connection. Sony had considered a R-rated VENOM but passed in fear cross-over chances would be hurt
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) August 20, 2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home recently became Sony Pictures’ highest-grossing film of all time.
Originally published Aug. 20, 5:38 p.m. PT.
Update, 10 p.m.: Adds tweet from Jeremy Renner and fan reactions.