There was widespread panic last summer when the news came out of nowhere that Sony had decided to take their ball and go home, withdrawing Spider-Man from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, presumably with an eye to utilizing the web-slinger as the marquee character for their own series of comic book movies.
Fans went into meltdown at the prospect of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker no longer being part of the MCU, especially with the events of Avengers: Endgame clearing the deck for Spidey to become one of the franchise’s driving forces for Phase Four and beyond. Luckily for us, the two parties managed to reach a brand new agreement, with a lot of help and persuasion coming from Holland himself, and it was swiftly announced that a third Spider-Man movie would hit theaters in 2021.
While the terms of the new deal haven’t been made public, Kevin Feige has hinted that Spider-Man is free to feature in the Sony-verse, which you would imagine would be one of the key points during negotiations, and the first trailer for Morbius dropped even more hints that the two superhero franchises are set to cross-pollinate in the future.
Both sides have hinted that they could be set to extend their working arrangement for a while yet, too, and now, sources close to WGTC – the same ones that said the Guardians of the Galaxy will return in Thor: Love and Thunder and that Taskmaster would be the villain in Black Widow, both of which are now confirmed – have told us that a verbal agreement between Sony and Marvel is already in place.
Nothing has been put into writing as of yet, but our intel claims that both studios are on the same page regarding the future of Spider-Man and want to continue the character-sharing, with the standalone movies remaining part of the MCU, but also leaving Tom Holland free to either play a supporting role or cameo in the Sony flicks. It hasn’t quite been finalized as of yet, and it’s unclear when they’ll announce it, but our sources say it’s definitely going to happen and we’ll let you know more as soon as the ink dries on the new contract.
