After the disappointing news saying that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man would no longer be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and weeks of whispers concerning ongoing negotiations between Sony and Disney, True Believers everywhere can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Peter Parker has been welcomed back to the fold.
To quickly bring you up to speed, the new deal says that one more movie featuring Spidey as part of the MCU will drop in 2021, with the character also set to make a guest appearance in a separate Marvel flick. Basically, the two studios are scratching each others’ backs, so everybody wins.
Taking that into account, this plan may indeed be finite, as my initial thought was that Sony will eventually lay sole cinematic claim to Spider-Man and go about their merry way. Having said that, it comes as no surprise that The Hollywood Reporter has gotten word of how Kevin Feige is said to be plotting Peter Parker’s exit from the MCU.
Right now, no other details have been given other than the outlet saying that Spidey will eventually be written out of the franchise, as Feige “seems to be plotting an endgame that will wrap up Peter Parker’s story in the MCU.” That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see the last of Tom Holland in the role, or that this will be last we see of him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s actually wise of Feige and his cohorts to already begin mapping this out, lest they have the rug pulled out from under them yet again.
In other words, they wouldn’t want to be like producers of a TV show that ended a season on a cliffhanger, only to be cancelled by the network. As such, they’ll likely write him out in Spider-Man 3 but still leave the door open for a potential return, as we’ve heard they could strike a new deal a few years down the road which would allow the hero to come back for more movies. But with nothing set in stone just yet, they want to make sure they give him a proper goodbye, just in case Sony doesn’t want to play ball in the future. Basically, everything is a bit up in the air right now.
In the meantime, it looks like Holland will be integrated into the cinematic universe Sony’s been developing on their own. It’s been well-publicized that they’d like him to one day meet Tom Hardy’s Venom, and I don’t see them resting until that’s made a reality. THR’s report also suggested this, so that lends credit to the inevitability of said notion.
Spider-Man 3, or whatever it winds up being called, opens in theaters on July 16th, 2021.
