Following that awesome new trailer released earlier today, anticipation for Spider-Man: Homecoming has never been higher. It looks like the upcoming reboot is going to be a big hit both critically and commercially and as such, Spidey appears to have a bright future ahead of him in the MCU. Or does he?
As we all know by this point, Sony originally owned the rights to the web-slinger before allowing him to return home to Marvel. The agreement looked something like this: Sony backs Homecoming with formidable financial and distribution power while Marvel Studios is allowed most of the creative control. However, while the House of Ideas will do as they please with the beloved character, Sony ultimately gets the final say in what the finished product looks like.
Ever the forward thinkers, the executives at both Marvel and Sony are already talking about the film’s distant follow-up. We know that a sequel is being planned, but some recent comments by producer Amy Pascal lead us to believe that after that, Spidey may find himself leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe behind.
Of the agreement between Sony and Marvel, Pascal said:
“One of the things that I think is so amazing about this experience is that you don’t have studios deciding to work together to make a film very often. In fact it may never happen again, after we do the sequel. Because Sony, and Disney, and Marvel all decided that the right thing to do was to allow Peter Parker and Spider-Man to be in the MCU and to work with the Marvel guys and have them produce this film.
And I think that was a very rare thing for three companies to do, and a very brilliant thing for them to decide to do because there are only so many stories that you can tell again and again and again about Spidey, and this is something that we would have never been able to do in any other way. So it was a very selfless thing that was very smart on the part of all the companies.”
It sounds like Sony is leaning toward taking back the rights and resuming their own plans for the character. After all, they’ve got the leverage and the control, so there’s very little Marvel Studios and Feige can do once a decision has been reached. Of course, we’re hopeful that the two parties decide to keep collaborating after Avengers: Infinity War and the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel, but there’s no guarantee that they will.
Let’s not worry just yet though and instead, let’s start getting excited for Jon Watts’ upcoming reboot, which hits theaters on July 7th.