Sony and Marvel Studios reportedly still won't agree on one major Spider-Man issue. After Marvel Studios got its hands on the X-Men and the Fantastic Four thanks to Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the MCU's biggest rights lies with Sony Pictures and Spider-Man. Fortunately, the studios have mostly played nice for the last decade, working together on four Spider-Man flicks and counting that are co-produced by Sony and Marvel. The deal allows an MCU character or two to appear in the Sony-owned wall-crawler franchise, while Marvel Studios can play with Spider-Man in select projects, such as the Avengers movies.
During a recent edition of The Cosmic Circus' monthly Q&A, scooper Alez Perez was asked whether Spider-Man characters would ever be able to appear in more MCU projects. To which, Perez noted that while more movies appearances are possible, bringing Spider-Man characters into TV is "still at a standstill and Sony refuses to budget on that," ruling out any live-action Disney+ future.
This comes after Sony and Marvel reportedly resolved one disagreement, allowing some Spider-Man antagonists who were intended for the strange villain spin-off universe to be used in the MCU. The wall-crawler rights holder supposedly blocked Marvel Studios from utilizing the likes of Kraven the Hunter, Morbius, Madame Web, and Venom until recently, when Sony's Spider-Man Universe was scrapped.
Spider-Man has been able to appear on Disney+ under Marvel Animation in What If...?, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Marvel Zombies. While Sony Pictures holds the live-action and animated movie rights to Spider-Man, Marvel Studios and Disney can still develop cartoon episodes under 44 minutes.
The unfortunate update comes as fans remain eager to see Tom Holland's Spider-Man enter Daredevil: Born Again and the fight with Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin, a face-off that may be on the cards for the hero's next MCU movie trilogy.
Sony is preparing to deliver its first venture into live-action web-slinging TV when all eight episodes of Spider-Noir premiere on Amazon Prime Video on May 27, with the first chapter coming to MGM+ early on May 25. The big-budget series serves as a live-action spin-off to the Spider-Verse franchise starring Nicolas Cage.
It's possible that Sony is eager to take its own first dive into web-slinging TV before considering allowing Marvel Studios to play in that sandbox. Alternatively, Sony may not want to risk diluting the prestige or value of Spider-Man by inserting Tom Holland's Peter Parker into the average Disney+ series.
Sony's Plans for Spider-Man Are Larger Than Ever
Sony still has plans to utilize its Spider-Man rights to their full potential, including its next collaboration with Marvel Studios on Spider-Man: Brand New Day and possibly a full new trilogy starring Tom Holland. Many are convinced the once-rival studios could also reteam for a live-action Miles Morales blockbuster in the MCU after Beyond the Spider-Verse concludes his animated saga in June 2027.
Spider-Noir marks Sony's second attempt following in Marvel Studios' footsteps by taking its superhero franchise into premium TV. Spider-Verse creators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were once plotting Silk: Spider Society to star Cindy Moon, a Korean-American girl who was bit by the same spider as Peter Parker.
Both shows were planned under Sony's larger multi-year deal with Lord and Miller to launch Spider-Man into the world of TV. However, Puck stated in August 2024 that the deal was unlikely to be renewed after a "heated fight" over Spider-Noir's budget, although the exact result of the tussle is unclear.
That said, Lord and Miller still seem to be all over Spider-Man at Sony, working toward next year's Beyond the Spider-Verse and were stated to be producers on the in-development animated Spider-Punk spin-off movie featuring Daniel Kaluuya's British, guitar-strumming Hobie Brown.
It certainly seems that Sony is still all-in on The LEGO Movie duo to handle their non-MCU Spider-Man projects, from TV to animation. Although one area Sony has, thankfully, taken a step back from is live-action Spider-Man spin-off movies after Kraven the Hunter plunged the last nail into the obscure franchise's coffin.
