The reasons why this happened are rooted in an extraordinarily complicated story over the rights to the web-slinging hero, with Sony eventually stepping in to 'buy' Spider-Man for a paltry $7 million from Marvel in 1999. Quite the bargain in hindsight, wasn't it?
It could've been even better, with cash-strapped Marvel offering the rights to nearly all their characters for $25 million. However, as told to the Wall Street Journal, the execs at Sony dismissed the deal by saying: “Nobody gives a shit about any of the other Marvel characters. Go back and do a deal for only Spider-Man.”
So Sony took only Spider-Man, and went on to make a pretty successful trilogy between 2002-2007. Thereafter things started to get a bit stale however, as subsequent attempts to reboot the franchise (The Amazing Spider-Man) were seen as relative flops.
This is where a partnership with a now resurgent, Disney-owned Marvel was discussed, with the two studios eventually reaching an agreement in 2015 to share the character.
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The decision was a hit with both critics and fans, a clever piece of business that benefited all parties and got people loving Spider-Man again.
Spider-Man has become a staple and popular member of the MCU, appearing in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
However, the sharing agreement has now broken down, with Disney wanting to change the terms to reflect the massive popularity that Spider-Man has regained as part of their MCU.
Sony won't budge from the original deal however, which has outraged fans - some have been using the hashtag #BoycottSony, saying they won't watch future films by the studio because of the Spider-Man announcement.
So what next for Spider-Man? Well, Tom Holland is still contracted to Sony for at least one more film so there is definitely more to come.
They will go back to the Spider-Man only format we saw previously because Sony will be forbidden to reference any MCU characters they don't hold the rights to. Will the Sony-only films be as good as the recent hits we have become accustomed to? Only time will tell.
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