Bye, Bye Spiderman

Marvel’s Spiderman possibly leaving MCU

Tom Holland as the MC Spider-Man: Photo Courtesy of Dexerto.com

Tom Holland as the MC Spider-Man: Photo Courtesy of Dexerto.com

 

After the July release of “Spider-Man: Far From Home”, the 5-movie deal between Disney and Sony was due to be renewed. The deal allowed Disney to use the Sony owned character, so he can be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

 

In 1998, Sony paid the-at the time-bankrupt Marvel, $10 million for the movie rights to Spider-Man and all his characters. That purchase led to the highly successful 2002 “Spider Man” movie with actor Tobey Maguire playing Peter Parker and actress Kirsten Dunst playing Mary Jane Watson. The movie opened to what was then a record $114 million its opening weekend. This and the release of Fox’s Marvel X-men movie 2 years prior made superhero movies the brand new trend in the box office. The 2002 movie lead to sequels in 2004 and 2007. The second movie is widely seen as the best “Spider-Man” that has ever come out. It received the best reviews out of all 3 of the movies. The third film didn’t receive the same praise as the first and second one and is seen as the worst Spider-Man film in the franchise. This led to the cancellation of the then planned fourth Spider-Man movie, and made Sony Pictures reboot the franchise entirely.

 

All of this led to the 2012 “The Amazing Spider-Man” movie with Andrew Garfield playing Spider-Man. The movie received mixed reviews and was seen as not as good as the original. The film was an attempt to distance itself from the original trilogy making his love interest  Gwen Stacy instead of Mary Jane. The films also had gotten criticized for having too much of a dark tone, especially compared to the more campy original movies. Despite the reviews, it was still a financial success, earning over 750 million dollars at the box office, which led to a sequel 2 years later in 2014. The second film in the series received mostly negative reviews. Earning the lowest reviews of any Spider-Man movie that came before it. It was seen as overstuffed, trying to fit too many storylines in the movie. This made Sony release Andrew Garfield and end his run as Spider-Man.   

 

This made Sony and Disney start having conversations about letting Spider-Man participate in Disney’s MCU. After a while of negotiating, Sony finally allowed Spider-Man to be in the MCU for 5 movies. Sony would make 97% of the proceeds from the box office, and Disney would take all of the merchandising. Disney’s Spider-Man made his debut in the 2016 movie “Captain America: Civil War,” with actor Tom Holland playing Spider-Man. This led to him having two solo movies in 2017 and 2019.  The movie received great feedback and was seen as one of the best Spider-Man films to come out. It was liked for having Spider-Man struggling with being a hero as well as providing the relatability of being a high school student. The movie also benefited from being apart of the MCU, with having Robert Downey Jr’s iron man being a heavy part of the movie. The sequel then came out in 2019 and made it the 5th movie that Spider-Man was in the MCU. This made Disney and Sony start negotiating for a new deal to allow Disney to use Spider-Man. In the new proposed deal by Disney, they asked for the majority of box office proceeds and all merchandising sales. Sony declined the deal and decided to take back the character. Sony feels like they can finally make a successful Spider-Man franchise after the success of their Venom movie and animated Spider-Man movie with Miles Morales being Spider-Man instead of Peter Parker. After the deal fell through Sony said they feel they can reach a deal with Disney to keep the character in the MCU. They have since offered Disney a 30% box office deal and they want Venom to be put in the MCU.