Just when you thought that all of the issues surrounding Sony and Marvel Studios negotiating over Spider-based heroes was well and truly over, a new rumor has popped up to indicate that that might not be the case. The internet was sent into a frenzy last summer when the rival studios’ character-sharing agreement over Spider-Man ended in acrimonious divorce, before the two sides eventually kissed and made up, with Tom Holland’s web-slinger set to remain part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the foreseeable future.
Now we find ourselves in the unique situation where there are two separate comic book franchises under two different banners, with the one common theme being Spider-Man. While Spidey is by no means the glue holding the MCU together, he is being built up as one of the franchise’s marquee names in the absence of Captain America and Iron Man, while Sony are relying on him to drop by on a regular basis in an effort to bump up the box office numbers for their own Marvel universe, with an eye to having him take a prominent role in the eventual Sinister Six movie.
Now, speculation hints that Kevin Feige is keen to bring Spider-Woman into the MCU, even though Sony are reportedly in the early stages of developing a solo movie featuring the character, with Tomb Raider’s Alicia Vikander said to be one of the names under consideration to play Jessica Drew. Tipster Charles Murphy, who has a decent track record with these kind of scoops, hinted that the two parties were considering a new deal on a recent episode of his podcast, saying:
“The last that I heard, they were at least having conversations with Sony about trying to make it a co-opt. I know that Feige is at least interested in making a Jessica Drew movie with Sony.”
Like many Marvel superheroes, the rights issues surrounding Spider-Woman are pretty complicated. Although she has ties to names and organizations owned by Disney, as a minor Spider-Man character she likely belongs to Sony. So in theory, Feige could make a Jessica Drew movie if he wanted to, but probably couldn’t call her Spider-Woman. With Sony working on a solo film already, it would certainly make sense for the two sides to expand their agreement, especially with Marvel Studios having a much better track record of successful comic book franchises than their Sony counterparts.
