The announcement was made after negotiations between Disney and Sony broke down
The latest Spider-Man film 'Far from Home' has done extremely well at the box office, but it looks like it may be the last time we see Spidey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A long-running dispute between Sony and Disney has resulted in Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige being essentially pushed out of the equation for future Spider-Man films - which means that the character, most recently played by Tom Holland, will not be a part of the MCU going forward.
Feige was looking for a co-financing stake in the franchise, considering that the last two films that he produced - 'Avengers: Endgame' and 'Spider-Man: Far from Home' broke box office records. However, with Disney and Sony failing to agree terms, they will move forward on a rumoured two further Spider-Man films without his, and Marvel's involvement.
Sony released a statement last night which read: "Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise. 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.
"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.”
Needless to say, fans are not happy about the news and have been speculating on what it might mean for the MCU in the future - not to mention, how it might affect the post-'Endgame' storyline if the character of Spider-Man is not involved. The hashtag #SaveSpiderMan was trending on Twitter at one point.
Holland and director Jon Watts are reportedly still committed to making two more films, with or without Marvel's involvement.
See below for the reaction (warning: spoilers relating to 'Endgame' ahead):
okay but tony stark didn’t snap to see peter parker being cancelled
— tiny t⎊ny (@woIvern) August 20, 2019
Damn, y’all. The death of Tony Stark was all in vain. 😢 #Spiderman #Sony
— nizzle 🇨🇺 (@NIZZLEARTS) August 20, 2019
Spider-Man movie fan: "Are they just going to ignore Tony Stark and Endgame?"
Spider-Man Comic Fan: "They could just have the devil delete that from everyone's memory. It's worked before under more extreme circumstances"— Da7e Gonzales (@Da7e) August 20, 2019
Tony Stark, who gave up his life with Pepper and Morgan to bring back Peter Parker, rising from the grave to fix the Sony/Disney negotiations like pic.twitter.com/smH8fbJyjG
— Rachel Leishman (@RachelLeishman) August 21, 2019
first tony stark dies and now we lose spider-man ?????? pic.twitter.com/RtcnHk30Ao
— Taylor Nicole Dean (@taylorndean) August 20, 2019
Yes of course Sony can make more #SpiderMan movies, and they might be amazing. They have @jnwtts and @TomHolland1996 , but the synergy and world of MCU is key to the new take. Specially after Tony Stark. This is a grave mistake.
— Dan Carrillo Levy (@DanFilm) August 20, 2019
It’s 4th of July Weekend, 2027. You grab a popcorn and soda and watch Uncle Ben die for the 15th time on screen in the freshly rebooted “Ultimate Spider-Man”
— shamus (@shamus_clancy) August 20, 2019
Sony kicking Feige out of Spider-Man is how we get bad Spider-Man movies again. The leadership at that company is nothing short of moronic.
— Jacob Hall (@JacobSHall) August 20, 2019