Is Sony really thinking about selling the Spider-Man rights to Marvel?

Congrats, Sony, you went from cinematic magnificence of Spider-Man 2 to the towering feat of tedium that is Kraven the Hunter in exactly 20 years! The Venom trilogy might be fun in its dopey, demented way, but the other three films that make up the so-called Sony’s Spider-Man Universe — an ironic name for a franchise defined by the absence of said hero — are among the worst the comic book movie genre has to offer. It gets you to thinking, then… Is enough finally enough?

Back in 2014, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 made a whole heap of moolah, but its shaky storytelling foundations were still enough to embolden Kevin Feige to pitch Sony a groundbreaking co-production deal between them and his Marvel Studios — enter Tom Holland’s MCU-native webhead. This never took any rights away from Sony, though, which is why the studio has pumped out solo films for whichever toys left in their toybox Marvel didn’t want to play with ever since.

But, after two out of three of its 2024 offerings proved to be embarrassing misfires, it looks like Sony might be ready to cut and run. Not just from the half-dozen films dropped under the SSU banner (a true Sinister Six if I ever saw one), but perhaps even from the rights to Spider-Man himself. Could Sony really be planning to hand the entire Spider-Verse back to Marvel?

Is Sony selling the Spidey rights to Marvel? Don’t swing from the rooftops just yet…

In the wake of Kraven opening lower than even Madame Web at the box office, rumors are swirling that Sony might’ve decided to cut ties with their biggest cash-cow and simply hand the keys to the Spider-Man kingdom back over to Marvel. According to the word on the internet, the studio is “seriously considering” making what would no doubt be a Kingpin-sized pile of cash by selling the rights to the House of Ideas.

So, is this really happening? In short… No. There is no official, or even reliably reported, information indicating that Sony is considering selling the Spider-Man rights, so we should probably consider this as trustworthy as Mysterio for the time being. This would be the dream scenario for wallcrawler fans everywhere, of course, but recent history has shown us that Sony isn’t in the habit of actually giving fans what they want.

For starters, it’s important to note that the SSU hasn’t been officially axed. As per The Wrap, it’s only that Sony is looking to focus on Spider-Man 4 for the moment as they know that’s where all the big money and acclaim is. After that, it’s very possible Sony will reboot its own shared universe plans. Remember, a Nicolas Cage-starring Spider-Man Noir series is coming to Prime Video in 2025, so it’s possible the franchise will pivot to the small screen from now on. Then there’s the beloved animated Spider-Verse films to consider.

All in all, yes, selling Spider-Man would give Sony a huge windfall in the short-term, but even if recent flops have proven they can’t just take a random villain from his rogues gallery and make a movie about them, the popularity of Spidey both as an individual character and as a multiversal brand continues to be sky-high. Maybe Feige really has managed to sweet-talk them into selling, maybe not. If not then we need Sony to remember that with great power over the Spider-Man legacy also comes great responsibility.