Marvel Studios
To the utter shock of all movie and comic book fans around the world, news broke yesterday that Sony and Marvel Studios had failed to agree to terms of a new deal, thus effectively removing Spider-Man — arguably Marvel’s most iconic hero — from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Despite the fact that Spider-Man: Far From Home has just become the highest-grossing film in the history of Sony (and, you know, Avengers: Endgame just became the highest-grossing film of all-time), the two Hollywood powerhouses were unable to reach a deal, reportedly due to money — of course.
Now, following the immediate and widespread internet backlash, Sony has released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that largely places the blame at the feet of The Mouse House.
“Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise,” says a Sony spokesperson. “We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film,” Sony’s statement to The Hollywood Reporter begins.
“We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him – including all their newly added Marvel properties – do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own. Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue.”
Truthfully, I think the news that negotiations broke down was a negotiation tactic from Disney to ramp up the pressure on Sony, as they know they have blind loyalty from their fans, and that loyalty would result in public pressure on Sony to get a deal done, which is exactly what we’ve seen in the hours since the news broke.