Yesterday saw the news that talks had fallen apart between Disney and Sony over keeping Spider-Man in the MCU, with many fans upset by the news, but Spidey back at Sony may actually be a good thing.
Let’s take a look at the various arguments and potential positives.
Argument: Amazing Spider-Man movies were terrible
The biggest argument that fans bring up regarding Sony is that their previous films, the Amazing Spider-Man movies starring Andrew Garfield, weren’t any good, which is true. Garfield himself even blasted the producers for the flicks not being right, and it is known those same producers weren’t involved with the Marvel Tom Holland flicks and it has been said they don’t even get along with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Those Sony producers made the mistake thinking they could just throw the characters on the screen without a quality story and would make money (case in point Electro and Rhino), but while their mistake may have cost them in the short run, it actually may have been beneficial in the long term.
Hopefully, now that Kevin Feige and Marvel fixed Spider-Man for Sony (though Sony plays that down in their recent statement), Sony will continue to get things right with Spider-Man. IMO, Sony is already two-for-two with their SpiderVerse films as the Tom Hardy Venom movie was decent enough, and of course, the animated Into the Spider-Verse film was amazing. Phil Lord and Chris Miller have signed with Sony to develop additional Spider-Man projects, so maybe they will help out with the movies.
So Sony seems to be on the right track without Marvel’s input (assuming Feige didn’t have anything to do with the aforementioned flicks) and learned their lesson from the Amazing Spider-Man films.
Argument: Sony needs to reboot Spidey
Some fans have been complaining that Sony will need to reboot Spider-Man, which may mean Tom Holland is out.
That’s not the case as presently Holland has two films left on his contract, so he will stick around as Spider-Man. I’m sure Sony realizes that Holland is the fan-favorite choice to continue to play the character. Our own polls that saw thousands of fans respond overwhelmingly chose Tom Holland over both Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire.
Some fans have also said that Holland won’t be happy at Sony, which is a laughable statement. Holland has a great relationship with Sony and signed with them for an Uncharted franchise. Also, let’s be honest, he’s a twenty-year-old dude making a boatload of cash, I doubt he is going to complain that much (lol).
Postive: Sony can fix Spider-Man with a soft reboot
I don’t know about you, but honestly, I didn’t think Homecoming and Far From Home were “all that,” particularly in regards to “Spider-Man.”
I wasn’t happy at all that Peter was basically given everything from Tony Stark; I didn’t like any of the Spider-Man suits, the look of them, and especially how teched-out they were, which again, was a Tony Stark creation and not a Peter Parker design. That’s not Spider-Man, IMO, and it takes a lot away from the character. Of course, seeing Spider-Man alongside the Avengers was really cool, but that’s about it. Captain America: Civil War wasn’t that good, (was just a response to DC announcing Batman vs. Superman), with the Tarmac scene and the use of Spider-Man, really, being the only good thing about the movie (fan-service).
Now that Sony has full control of the character, they don’t have to follow any of the Kevin Feige mandates, can return Spider-Man closer to the comic book version, recast MJ as she is supposed to be, and I’ll also say Aunt May should be recast.
So Sony can do some sort of soft reboot.
The only good thing that Feige really did with Spider-Man, is give us quality villains with Michael Keaton’s Vulture and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, so Sony needs to take a page out of Feige’s book in that respect and continue with awesome and quality villains.
I’ll also add Sony should recast Flash, but definitely keep Ned, and that with a soft reboot comes Peter Parker making his own costume (did the Far From Home plane scene really count?).
Positive: Spider-Man is leaving the MCU at the right time
Spider-Man’s exit from the MCU comes right at the time when the original Avengers actors, particularly Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, are done with Marvel, and they won’t starring in any big Avengers films. Basically, The Avengers are dead. Endgame also ruined Hulk, Thor and killed off Black Widow.
There was an article by CNN about the Sony and Disney deal falling apart that offered Spider-Man will no longer be seen on screen with Captain America and Iron Man, of course which I laughed at. Well, no duh, as Iron Man died in Avengers: Endgame and Captain America did whatever he did with the shield. So yeah, we won’t be seeing Spidey with Iron Man and Cap in an Avengers movie again, so this is as good of a time as any to leave the MCU and head back to Sony, which brings me to…
Positive: Spider-Man is not a part of Marvel’s Phase 4 (bore) plans
This past Comic-Con saw Kevin Feige and Marvel announce their “big” Phase 4 plans, which many, many fans thought was a huge disappointment.
Interesting enough, an article at the LA Times cites three sources close to Disney and Sony that offer one of the reason’s Sony decided to pull Spider-Man out of the MCU is because of concerns surrounding how Spider-Man would fit in with Marvel’s Phase 4 plans (they also say talks are dead). So we see that similar to a lot of fans’ concerns, Sony themselves has concerns about Marvel’s Phase 4 as well. Very interesting!
Taking a look at Marvel’s Phase 4, does Spider-Man even fit in? Heck no.
Black Widow: Prequel movie, so no Spidey.
Eternals: The movie stars Angelina Jolie and a bunch of gender-bended and switched actors. Definitely no Spider-Man here.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision, What If?, Loki, Hawkeye: All Disney Plus shows so we can rule Spider-Man out. The only potential one that would be cool would be the What If? animated series, but that is a cartoon, so hardly connected to the MCU.
Shang-Chi: Looks to be some sort of Mortal Kombat wannabe set in China, so no Spidey.
Doctor Strange: In The Multiverse of Madness: This is probably the one Phase 4 flick that could have worked with an appearance by Tom Holland and Spider-Man. Benedict Cumberbatch and Holland are great together, plus Spidey is in NYC just like Doctor Strange. The film could have also introduced different live-action versions of Spider-Man characters (à la Into the Spider-Verse). The problem is that Feige and his crew decided to force Scarlet Witch into the flick. What is the huge cause for concern is that WandaVision directly connects to Doctor Strange 2, but WandaVision is being written and has a showrunner who helped write Captain Marvel and recently came out and says she doesn’t like superhero films (yet here she is writing comic book movies for “some” reason). So perhaps it’s best to keep Spidey out of this one.
Thor: Love and Thunder: This will probably be set in space and focuses on Natalie Portman as Female Thor and Tessa Thompson as the lesbian Valkryie searching for her queen of New Asgard. Definitely, nothing to do with Spidey here.
So we see that Feige is going with some sort of diversity and feminist approach and direction with his Phase 4 (bore) plans, which obviously concerns a lot of fans as well as Sony. It seems best to have Spidey sit this one out. Maybe Feige was intending on replacing Spider-Man, too??
Argument: What about the new Avengers?
What about them?
Kevin Feige has already confirmed they will be going in a completely different direction, so would Spider-Man even fit with them on the team?
Does anyone really want to see Spidey alongside the Brie Larson Captain Marvel who is the most powerful character in the MCU?
You could argue that some fans do, but New Avengers looks to be years away, so Sony could always do a Sinister Six instead.
Positive: Rated R Spider-Man movies
A big complaint amongst fans regarding Venom was that it was PG-13, with many fans complaining no gore was shown, etc.
It’s thought the PG-13 rating came about because eventually Venom would be connected to Spider-Man in the MCU. With that not happening, Sony can give us the Venom movie we all need and deserve — along with Carnage.
There actually is a rumor that Venom 3 will adapt Maximum Carnage, so maybe it will be rated R? Or maybe the Venom 2 flick in development from Andy Serkis will be rated R as well?
Final thoughts: Sony doesn’t need Marvel
Does Sony even need Feige and Marvel?
I would argue Sony doesn’t need the MCU slate of characters as they have the film rights to 900 or so Spider-Man related characters. Already in development includes the Jared Leto Morbius movie and films for Kraven, Silk, Black Cat, Silver Sable and more. Sony can now develop Norman Osborn as the primary villain, which is something that Feige was probably avoiding and placing on the backburner. Sony can also now introduce the live-action Miles Morales.
Spider-Man hasn’t been all that good at Marvel to begin with, it’s just that Feige has a zombie army of fans that eat anything thrown on the screen. Feige could throw a pile of dung on the screen with the MCU logo (arguably already done with Captain Marvel) and those fans would eat it up. I would argue those fans settling for mediocrity (at best) and not settling for greatness is why Feige and Marvel are giving us Phase 4 (bore).
What Sony needs to be careful about is going the route they went with for the Amazing Spider-Man movies, but again, things look to be fixed judging by the success of Venom and Into the Spider-Verse.
Sony also needs to be careful about not going the Hollywood PC route which got them in trouble with Ghostbusters, that got Disney in trouble with Star Wars, and what could spell the end of the MCU with Feige’s PC flicks. Avoid that at all costs, Sony!
Finally, Tom Holland will still be Spider-Man, it’s just that the new Sony Spider-Man films won’t have MCU characters or references, which, again, is a good thing IMO.
