Fans are still reeling from the shocking announcement that due to the breakdown in the working relationship between Sony and Marvel Studios/Disney, Spider-Man: Far From Home may have marked the title character’s final appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As is the case any time news of this magnitude breaks, speculation is already running rampant about what the future holds for both the Spider-Man franchise and the creative team involved.
Sony have been struggling with how to approach the hero for over a decade now, which was what led to the unprecedented deal with Kevin Feige and company in the first place. The heavy studio interference and subsequent poor reception to Spider-Man 3 forced Sam Raimi to abandon the franchise, while Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man movies weren’t held in particularly high regard by either fans or critics despite Andrew Garfield’s best efforts.
The reasoning behind Sony’s decision is said to be largely financial as opposed to creative, which makes sense as Spider-Man: Far From Home recently crossed the billion-dollar mark at the box office, and is now the highest-grossing movie in the studio’s history. Even though it was recently revealed that Kevin Feige assisted in the production of Venom in a hands-off role, the success of last year’s Tom Hardy-starring blockbuster could well be another reason why Sony have decided to go it alone.
Venom may not have gotten great reviews, but it was a monster hit nonetheless and ended up earning over $850 million worldwide. Not only did this prove that Sony could produce a hit movie set in their own Spider-Man universe, but it also launched a franchise and the possibilities for sequels, and if the studio had full rights to the character then they could give the fans what they want and properly pit Venom and Spider-Man against each other on the big screen.
Perhaps Sony don’t think that they need Marvel Studios’ help anymore, especially with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse earning critical raves and winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. With Venom 2 currently in the works with Andy Serkis directing and Morbius having recently finished shooting, the studio weren’t exactly planning on giving up on their own Marvel universe, either. And now, they could disregard the entirety of Spider-Man’s tenure in the MCU and simply drop him into any franchise they please.
