Well, folks, the unthinkable has happened. After the latest Spider-Man flick went on to gross well over $1 billion at the box office, it looks like everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood hero is out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As reported by Deadline, Disney and Sony Pictures were unable to hammer out a new deal with respect to financing future films, and as a result, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige won’t be working on any more Spidey movies going forward.
As Deadline writer Mike Fleming Jr. details, the House of Mouse wanted to change up the arrangement between the two studios and move toward a 50/50 split of financing. Sony, on the other hand, wanted to stick to something akin to the current setup, which gives Disney a 5 percent cut of first-dollar gross. For the record, Marvel Studios already has control of the merchandising on Spider-Man, so one could argue that Disney was being a bit greedy asking for half of the movies, too.
As a result of the disagreement between the companies, it looks like Peter Parker will no longer be part of the MCU, even though two more movies are in the works, with Tom Holland returning as Spidey, and Jon Watts in the director’s chair once more. As IGN points out, this could explain the lack of any mention of a follow-up to Far From Home at last month’s San Diego Comic-Con, seeing as how the studios were still disputing new financing terms.
It’s not entirely clear what the next few Spider-Man movies will look like, though there’s always the chance that Sony might opt to roll the character into their existing lineup, which includes films centering on Venom, Kraven the Hunter, Silver Sable and Black Cat. That’s just speculation for now, though, as Marvel, Disney and Sony Pictures have yet to comment on this story. We’ll be sure to keep you updated on any further developments though, so stay tuned.