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.
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.