You can’t always get what you want.
At no other point in cinematic history has this phrase rang so true than in the wake of the latest string of news coming from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Excitement kept building and building, from the amazingly done Avengers: Endgame to the announcement that Fox had been bought by Disney. That meant beloved characters like Fantastic Four and X-Men are joining the ever-expanding MCU. It seemed Marvel fans could not get any happier.
And then we lost Spider-Man. How? Well, let’s get into the boring details of that catastrophe first:
Disney owns Marvel Studios. Sony owns the movie rights to Spider-Man, because of Marvel selling those movie rights way back when they couldn’t afford even the idea of a cinematic universe. The contract Sony and Disney had been working under, for Spider-Man to be able to be used in the MCU, saw Sony receiving most of the earnings for the new Spider-Man movies. Meanwhile, Disney got up to 5% of the earnings and 100% of merchandising revenue.
The recent negotiations went south when Disney decided it wanted an equal 50% split of movie revenue, which Sony didn’t even consider. While no one has explicitly refused to further negotiations, both parties walked away and are now in a stalemate that could very well take Tom Holland’s Spider-Man out of the MCU for good.
Fans everywhere are now left in a state of total shock and disgust, and rightly so.
Spider-Man leaving the MCU, which has been constructed very carefully up until now, will lead to continuity issues. It’s being said that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will still be used in movies, just with no connection to the MCU anymore.
There is simply no way, however, to retcon the last two movies. Whether it’s Peter Parker’s connection to Tony Stark and his sacrifice in Avengers: Endgame, or Aunt May’s possible relationship with Happy, there’s no good way to continue this franchise without it feeling incomplete. Think of poor Happy, acting like he’s never met someone who could possibly carry on the legacy of Tony Stark — besides Stark’s daughter, of course.
Sony seems to think they can create a whole universe by only using Spider-Man characters, however, its track record doesn’t exactly support that idea. The company has failed twice before, and are only relying on Venom as proof, which yes, made a fair amount of money at the box office, but at the same time was just mediocre in quality. If this does result in a strange continuation of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, or yet another reboot, it may just be three strikes and you're out for Sony and the character, at least from an audience’s perspective.
This deal going south has the potential to topple the MCU as a whole, or at least force it to stumble, and there are countless threats to boycott future Sony films.
Even in the wake of new announcements from Marvel, such as new Disney+ shows like She-Hulk, or a release date for Black Panther 2, all fans want to know is the fate of their beloved wall-crawler and for the two studios to come to a compromise.
It’s ridiculous for both Sony and Disney to discontinue a deal no one thought was possible, yet was pulled off spectacularly. It was an amazing day to learn Spider-Man joined the MCU, and to have him finally done right with such an impact on the universe made it all seem too good to be true.
The fact that it may indeed be too good to be true because of corporate greed is one of the most profoundly disappointing things to happen in modern pop culture. Sony and Disney need to make a new deal soon, or fans may very well start to storm Sony’s headquarters and swear off any future superhero movies, regardless of who they’re affiliated with.
Whether that means Disney needs to understand it already makes billions of dollars every year and keep the current deal, or Sony acknowledges the character is only doing well because of the involvement of Marvel Studios, a compromise must be reached.
Harkening back to the heartbreaking words Iron Man muttered to Captain America, “I lost the kid.” And that kid was supposed to be the heart and soul of Marvel on the big screen, and the successor to Tony Stark for years to come in what could, should and can still be a bright future for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hopefully with the outcry and advocacy from fans, the beloved Spider-Man back return to where he belongs.
Jackson Horvat is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Jackson by tweeting him at @horvatjackson.
