Opinion: What removing Spider-Man from the MCU means for everyone

This week news broke that Sony and Kevin Fiege, the producer behind the MCU as we know it, could not come to a mutual agreement regarding the direction for Spider-Man. As a result, the parties split and Sony resumed full rights of the property.

That’s your headline, Sony is now fully responsible for the next Spidey movie.

Let that sink in.

I recently wrote a post that included praising Sony and Marvel Studios for recreating Spider-Man during a time where reboots and remakes are ofter underwhelming and oversaturated. You can click here for that post. But now, I wonder if this split will remove some or all of that magic.

All of the moments in the MCU, the character building, the crossovers, and the potential are all wiped away.

In a statement released by Sony, Polygon reported that the reason for the split between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures was due to Disney giving Kevin Fiege more responsibilities that don’t allow him to produce another Spider-Man film.

Much of today’s news about Spider-Man has mischaracterized recent discussions about Kevin Feige’s involvement in the franchise. We are disappointed, but respect Disney’s decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film. We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him — including all their newly added Marvel properties — do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own. Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue. “

Sony has created the Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield iterations of Spider-Man and they gave up without fully finishing the arcs. Tom Holland’s version of Spider-Man gave a fresh, youthful take of the character. It allowed a new generation to get to know him through beloved characters in the MCU like Happy, Captain America, and most of all Tony Stark.

By removing Peter Parker from the components that built him up in the MCU, he’ll rapidly lose his appeal and his universe will have plot holes as well. Especially since Spider-Man: Far From Home was all about Peter Parker accepting Tony Starks legacy.

Sure stand-alone Spider-Man films exist but integrating Peter into the MCU made the property significantly better.

The removal of Peter Parker also harms the MCU. I’ve talked to a lot of my friends since the news broke and we all agree that MCU phase four just got a lot less interesting.

A lot of phase four seems to be geared to space adventures. Black Panther, Ant-Man, and Spider-Man are the only earthlings left. Everyone else will most likely have space odyssey themes.

Where is the human element going to live?

No offense to Star-Lord, but he lives in space and has spaceman problems.

Lastly, the separation of Spider-Man from the MCU makes Sony look like a total heel. That’s wrestling speak for a bad guy. Why would you ruin such a great piece of entertainment for the fans?

To quote one of my great friends, “the MCU Spider-Man was the only one to break bank”. It is the most successful Spider-Man ever, partially because of the storyline but also because of Tom Holland. People love the innocence and naivety of his version of Peter Parker. That’s what made his addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe so special.

My advice is for Sony and Disney to hash out their problems at a work retreat so they can stop letting business get in the way of something great and entertaining for the fans. Check the twitter hashtag for Sony and you’ll see all of the fans that have been left with a sour taste in their mouths about this corporate decision. What’s best for business isn’t always what’s best for business.

And even with Jon Watts returning to direct the next two Spider-Man films, without the possibility of crossing over with his fellow superheroes, some of what made this version of Spider-Man so special may be gone for good.