The Marvel Cinematic Universe is getting a little smaller, and this time, it has nothing to do with Thanos or the Infinity stones.
After Disney and Sony allegedly failed to reach a co-financing reconciliation over the fate of Spider-Man — played by Tom Holland in the most recent live-action iteration of the character — Sony will now have complete control over Spider-Man, states a new report from Deadline. This means that Holland's Peter Parker, and his Spider-Man alias, will no longer be a character within the MCU. In addition, Kevin Feige, the producer who shepherded the Marvel Universe into becoming the colossal franchise it is today, will no longer be involved in any future Spider-Man films in an official capacity, per Deadline.
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This news comes shortly after Spider-Man: Far From Home, produced by Feige, became the highest grossing film of all time for Sony Pictures.
Sony has already created a superhero franchise with characters from the Spider-Man comic books. The 2018 film Venom, a box office juggernaut, stars Tom Hardy as the titular villain from the comics. (Much like Josh Brolin's Thanos, people think the villainous Venom is hot.)
How, exactly, the MCU will continue without Holland's character is unclear, and how Holland's two Spider-Man films in the works will exist without mention of MCU characters is also unknown. So let's talk about what we do know: It's a huge bummer that Holland won't get to play with his Marvel friends anymore!
Without the veteran superhero actors watching his back, how will Holland know to not spoil the endings of all his movies?
Who will Peter Parker fanboy over if he's no longer a member of the Avengers?
Will Thor just not show up to Peter's graduation, after all that? Will Chris Hemsworth still invite Holland to his birthday parties?
In an interview with The Sunday Times this summer, Holland admitted he's not sure what Peter is doing next.
"I can’t talk about the future of the character because honestly I don’t know and it’s out of my hands. But I do know a lot about the future of Marvel, and they are going to be representing lots of different people in the next few years. The world isn’t as simple as a straight white guy. It doesn’t end there, and these films need to represent more than one type of person."
How Spider-Man will fit into this world now, we'll have to wait and see.
Disney did not respond to Refinery29's request for comment. Refinery29 has reached out to Sony as well.
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