Head of streaming, television, and animation at Marvel Studios, Brad Winderbaum, finally explained Tom Holland's tedious contract with Sony. Now, fans finally know which MCU projects the Spider-Man actor can be cast in.
Tom Holland played a major role in keeping his version of Spider-Man in the MCU for at least a few more upcoming projects.
It seemed that Sony and Marvel Studios would not be able to agree to share Spider-Man's rights. Still, a deal was finally inked, confirming that Holland could appear in MCU movies other than the Spider-Man flicks, such as the upcoming Avengers film, Avengers: Doomsday.
Where Can Spider-Man Legally Show Up in the MCU?
In an interview with Brandon Davis for the Phase Hero podcast shared via YouTube, Marvel Studios Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation Brad Winderbaum was asked about Tom Holland's Spider-Man appearing in live-action Disney+ projects.
Winderbaum gave some insight into what the deal between Sony and Marvel Studios allows when it comes to Holland and Spider-Man, explaining that the latter does not have "long-form television rights."
Those instead belong to Sony, meaning that Spider-Man cannot legally be featured in a live-action Disney+ project or any other Marvel Studios television series:
"I'm not sure exactly what the rules are, but I think they have long-form television rights at Sony, pretty sure. We can do 30-minute animation."
The original deal between Disney and Sony regarding the rights to Spider-Man came in 2015. Essentially, the deal stated that Sony would own, finance, and distribute solo Spider-Man films within the MCU even though that franchise is a Marvel Studios and Disney property.
So, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home were all under the Sony banner. However, the deal allowed Tom Holland's Spider-Man to be a side character in Marvel Studios films.
That is why he was legally allowed to appear in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
It is assumed that the new deal between Disney and Sony is very similar if not the same. As seen in No Way Home, it also allows Marvel Studios characters to cross over into Sony movies (Doctor Strange was a Marvel Studios character who was featured heavily in that movie).
It is believed that Holland signed on to play Spider-Man in six more films. If true, three of them will likely be a second Spider-Man trilogy. Then, two more would most likely be Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. That would leave one more appearance for Holland to be featured as a side character.
Can Spider-Man Be In Projects Like Daredevil: Born Again?
Daredevil: Born Again (which has already received strong reviews from critics) is one of the biggest upcoming MCU projects many fans circled on their release date calendars.
Since the series is set in New York, viewers hoped for at least a cameo from Spider-Man, if not more. Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock's appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home was a major deal, and many want the two characters to share the screen as much as possible.
However, the record-breaking upcoming Daredevil series legally won't be allowed to feature Spider-Man, which will undoubtedly disappoint many.
The Sony-Marvel deal also means that Spider-Man will not show up in any other important upcoming live-action shows, nor any animated series that were to be longer than 30-minute productions.
So that also explains why every episode of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was between 29 and 33 minutes in length. Legally, none of the episodes could be long enough to be categorized as an hour-long episode or series.
In future seasons of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (read about the major twist involving Nico in that show here), fans can expect the episode lengths to be around the same times.
