Spider-Man: So, What Happens Now?

The internet went into meltdown this week with Marvel fans ready to storm the gates of Sony (in some cases literally) as it was revealed they and Disney had failed to reach an agreement on the Web-slinger’s continued involvement in the MCU.

With Disney apparently asking for 50% of the box-office take for a character who’s most recent outing, July’s ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ raked in an impressive $1.1B worldwide, not only the biggest take for any Spider-man Movie, but also the biggest haul by a single film in Sony’s history.

Much has been said regarding whether Sony have made the right decision to go it alone (barring any new developments), given the fact that their very reason of turning to Marvel and Kevin Feige in the first place was seemingly down to their incapability to find the right formula for Spidey, with many viewing this announcement as Sony taking all they have learnt from Feige’s producing role on ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Far From Home’ along with the character’s involvement in the final two Avengers Movies, and swinging off into the distance to reap the rewards of all they now know.

But what will they do, now they have taken the character away from Marvel and…Far from home.

Well the most obvious answer comes in the form of Sony’s highest grossing Movie of last year, the critically panned but audience loving Spidey spin-off ‘Venom’, starring Tom Hardy as one of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies. Grossing $800M worldwide and with Andy Serkis now on-board to direct what many expect to be a much-improved sequel, Sony may now plant the seeds of Tom Holland’s arrival in their own Universe during Serkis’ film. And surely nothing would be a bigger flip-off to Disney than Sony using a post-credit scene, of which have become MCU folklore, to introduce their biggest property into their own line of Movies. The introduction of Holland’s Spider-Man into this world would also boost the hopes of a universe in which he battles against the entirety of the ‘Sinister Six’ (which Sony also own), a situation that (if executed properly) could deliver Sony a string of hit Movies.

Breaking away from Sony inserting Peter Parker into a franchise that already exists, it’s worth noting that both Holland, and director Jon Watts, who helmed both of the characters solo flicks in the MCU, are under contract for two further solo films. But where do they go with it? This is arguably the biggest conundrum Sony have to come up with, because without the ready-made relationships e.g. Zendaya’s ‘M.J’, Friend of Spider-Man ‘Ned’, the remaining Avengers, and the emotional weight of Tony Stark, a character which has basically dictated how Holland has played Peter Parker since 2015, Sony, and Tom Holland may now have find a way of rebooting not only the storyline of the character, but the characters mindset as a whole.

Although it must be said it’s tough to take after ‘Far From Home’s’ incredible mid-credit scene which not only teased us with J.K. Simmons returning as JJJ, but also the notion of Spider-Man (Iron Man esque) being unmasked in society.