For Marvel fanatics around the world, these past couple of months have been interesting, to say the least. In August, Marvel Studios and Sony announced that the beloved Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland, would be saying goodbye to his home within the Marvel Cinematic Universe—leaving many fans distraught on social media. Things turned around quickly on Sept. 27 when both studios took back their widely unpopular decision and announced that Spider-Man would be staying in the MCU after all—setting aside their original disagreements.
Beginning in 2015, the original deal between the two companies was to give Marvel—now a Disney-owned studio—the rights to use Holland in their movies and have Kevin Feige, president of Marvel, produce the films for Sony in return. Since then, Holland has appeared in five films for the MCU including the most recent successes of “Avengers: Endgame” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home”—proving that the decision would end up turning into a phenomenon.
The recent dispute between Sony and Marvel all came down to profit sharing. Disney was planning to implement a fifty-fifty split with Sony over the future Spider-Man movies, which ultimately resulted in a disagreement with Sony—removing Marvel Studios as producers of the company’s future Spider-Man installments.
With the sudden turn of events, fans have been speculating the cause for the reconciliation between the two media powerhouses. It could’ve been from the backlash of passionate fans or even Holland himself, which was confirmed by Disney CEO Bob Iger in a recent interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Days after the heartbreaking announcement, Holland made an appearance at Disney’s D23 Expo in late August to promote the new Pixar animated film “Onward” where he lends his voice alongside fellow MCU star Chris Pratt. Holland addressed the situation and even referenced Tony Stark’s farewell line, “I love you 3000.”
“It was clear that the fans wanted Tom back as Spider-Man,” said Iger—referring to the passionate response from the crowd attending the expo.
Iger revealed that Holland reached out to his people and requested his contact information. Impressed by how much Holland cared about the situation during their phone call, Iger made an effort to contact the head of Sony to figure out a way to make the relationship between the two companies resolve their original disagreements. It was then that they decided to jointly produce the third film in the Spider-Man Homecoming series. Kimmel jokingly described the compromise—characterizing Sony and Marvel as two divorced parents coming together and working their issues out.
Along with Holland, Iger credits the fans for their rightful adjustment and pointed out that they should come first when making these decisions. After all, their unwavering support and loyalty are the backbone of the explosive popularity of the franchise.
Thankfully, fans can continue to await the new Spider-Man film set to release in 2021—returning to their regularly scheduled programming.
Rylee Jackson can be reached at ryleejackson@sagebrush.unr.edu, or on Twitter @rybyjackson.
