'The door is closed': Sony Pictures boss dashes hopes of more Spider-Man in the MCU

Ben Arnold
·Contributor
Updated
Tom Holland as Spider-Man (Credit: Sony Pictures)
Tom Holland as Spider-Man (Credit: Sony Pictures)

Spider-Man fans hoping to see more Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have just had their last hopes dashed.

Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra told an audience at Variety's Entertainment & Technology summit that 'for the moment the door is closed'.

It emerged last month that the Marvel studio, which is owned by Disney, and Sony, which owns the rights to Spider-Man, had failed to reach a further agreement to have Spidey appear in future Marvel movies.

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This means that for now at least, Tom Holland won't be back as Spider-Man in the MCU, and potentially not again during his tenure as Peter Parker.

After Marvel Studios struck a deal with Sony in 2015, Holland's Spider-Man appeared in Captain America: Civil War, before the British actor had even appeared in his own Spider-Man movie for Sony.

He then went on to star in Spider-Man: Homecoming, for Sony, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame for Marvel, and most recently, Spider-Man: Far From Home for Sony.

And though the prognosis for further appearances in the MCU looks bleak, Vinciquerra added that there was 'no ill will' between Sony and Marvel, and that 'it's a long life', possibly meaning that negotiations could re-open at some point.

But whether Holland would still be playing the friendly neighbourhood web-slinger by then remains to be seen.

RDJ, Tom Holland and Benedict Cumberbatch in Infinity War (Credit: Marvel/Disney)
RDJ, Tom Holland and Benedict Cumberbatch in Infinity War (Credit: Marvel/Disney)

Fans have reacted badly to the news, with Vinciquerra adding that it had been 'an interesting couple of weeks' since news broke.

“We had a great run with (Feige) on Spider-Man movies,” Vinciquerra went on. “We tried to see if there’s a way to work it out….the Marvel people are terrific people, we have great respect for them, but on the other hand we have some pretty terrific people of our own. Kevin didn’t do all the work.

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“Spider-Man was fine before the event movies, did better with the event movies, and now that we have our own universe, he will play off the other characters as well. I think we’re pretty capable of doing what we have to do here.”

New additions to the Spider-Man universe include a second Venom movie with Tom Hardy, and helmed by Andy Serkis, a Morbius movie with Jared Leto, and reportedly 'five or six' TV series set in and based around other characters in the Spider-Man world.

There will also be a big new tentpole Spider-Man movie in the pipeline, following the cliffhanger ending of Far From Home.

Director Jon Favreau, who plays Happy Hogan in the Spidey movies, has weighed in too, saying: “I’ve been talking to everybody about it…I’m cautiously optimistic.

“I think it’s a long way away and I think the collaboration has been really strong up to this point so I’m hopeful that there’s away for us all to play together going forward.”