Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has hit a wall for now. Following the disastrous opening of Kraven the Hunter, the studio has halted further plans to expand beyond the Wall-Crawler’s IP. As Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4 is in active pre-production, questions have been raised about a potential change in Marvel and Sony’s sharing agreement.
Now, scooper MyTimeToShineHello at X released a tidbit about how Sony is rumored to be “seriously considering selling the Spider-Man IP back to Marvel”. A grain of salt should be taken given this scooper’s mixed track record. Sure this sounds reactionary to Kraven bombing this weekend. But the historic amount of money generated from stand-alone movies over the years seems too crazy for a studio to give up. Even if it were legit, the asking price on Sony’s part would be astronomical for Disney given their recent struggles at the box office and Disney+.
Sony’s deal with Marvel Studios began following the commercial disappointment of 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The sequel to the 2012 reboot is widely remembered as an advertisement for Sony’s initial attempt at a Sinister Six spinoff film. Their arrangement with Marvel Studios in 2015 resulted from fans pushing for Spider-Man’s inclusion into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Yet, Sony still believed they had a gold mine of characters in the Spider-Man license worth producing as a separate universe. 2018 was the year the studio became emboldened with its plans when the critically panned Venom grossed $856 million worldwide. Then the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse took home an Oscar statue. The success of these films gave Sony the confidence that there was a future for Spidey’s rogues gallery and allies.
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While the Venom sequels were saved by the international box office, the other spinoffs failed to connect with audiences. Jared Leto’s Morbius played like a bad knockoff of Underworld. Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web was ill-conceived from the beginning by de-aging the character from her comic book appearance and using it as a vehicle to launch female-centric spinoffs. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven tried and failed to be Sony’s answer to John Wick while including other iconic villains like the Rhino. All have one thing in common: No Spider-Man. No audience.
Kraven’s failure suggests that Sony will not move forward with other planned Spider-Man Universe projects such as Silver and Black as well as El Muerto which was intended for hip-hop star Bad Bunny. As for the near future, the fourth Holland-led sequel to be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton is scheduled for release on July 24, 2026. Meanwhile, the third Spider-Verse remains in production with no release date planned, and Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man: Noir series is currently filming for Amazon.
Do you think Sony should return the Spider-Man film rights to Marvel Studios? Let us know in the comments.
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