Spider-Man’s no longer part of the MCU. That’s the news that’s sent superhero fans for a loop over the past day, as a breakdown of the Sony/Disney deal means that Marvel Studios – at least as things stand – no longer has the wall-crawler as part of their stable. The upside is that Spider-Man 3 is still in the works at Sony, with Tom Holland said to return as Peter Parker.
Initial reports said that Jon Watts was also expected to make a comeback to complete his trilogy, but Fandango’s Erik Davis has thrown some doubt on this assumption. Over on Twitter, Davis shared that Holland will be back if Sony wants him, as the actor’s previously revealed that he’s signed up for at least three solo films. However, Watts has not made a similar deal and his involvement with Sony’s future plans remains unclear. Plus, there’s some confusion over the fact that Sony’s reportedly working on two more movies with Holland, despite his contract being up after the next one.
One option for the studio, then, is to continue on with Holland but ignore his previous history as the character. In other words, abandon the story set up in Spider-Man: Far From Home, not invite Watts back to direct and offer up a soft reboot. This could explain why they’re planning two and not just one more movie to close the trilogy, as we’d previously believed was Marvel Studios’ vision. Alternatively, maybe Sony’s so pleased with the MCU films that they’ll get Watts to do two more for them with Holland on board, with the MCU elements simply quietly dropped from the plot.
The truth is, we don’t know how things will play out right now. There’s apparently even a chance that Sony and Disney will reopen discussions and an agreement could be made to continue Spidey’s MCU journey in Spider-Man 3. As of right now, though, the webhead is back with Sony for the foreseeable future.