Sony's Wonderful Plan To Remove Spider-Man From MCU
Tom Holland says Sony had a plan, but what was it?
It seems like so long ago that fans around the world had their hearts collectively shattered upon hearing the news that Spider-Man would be leaving the MCU. While there were some who saw this as a good thing (with explanations ranging from the reasonable, such as, "This'll give Spider-Man a chance to stand on his own without relying on the Avengers," to the stupid and outrageous, such as, "Disney destroys everything they touch with their SJW agendas and kiddie humor"), the general response was, well... impassioned.
Countless articles were written, numerous videos shot, and intricate webs (pun intended) of fan theories about his exit were weaved. The hashtag #BoycottSony trended on social media, several petitions mirroring that sentiment were written up and signed by thousands of furious fans.
Just a month after the devastating announcement, we learned that Sony and Marvel had, in fact, reached a new deal, allowing Spider-Man to appear in two more MCU films. One would be a sequel to Far From Home, and the other would be an unnamed MCU film, in all likelihood a team-up event movie.
This came in part because both studios saw the value in sharing the character. Both Bob Iger and Sony head Tom Rothman acknowledged their continued collaboration as a win-win-win (that is, a win for Sony, a win for Disney, and, above all else, a win for the fans). A pleading, drunken phone call by Tom Holland didn't hurt.
Speaking of Holland, he recently spoke out about the split, noting that Sony had a plan in place.
“The future of Spider-Man was still very bright with Sony. We had a really, really wonderful idea how we could sort of transition into a Spider-Man without the MCU. Tom Rothman and Amy Pascal were really confident that they were gonna do justice and make a film of the caliber that Spider-Man requires."
A wonderful idea, huh? What could that have been? With the way Far From Home ended, Peter was on his own. He was isolated. His mentor was dead, he was outed as Spider-Man, and he had been painted as a public menace. Perhaps that was just a logical, clean way to break him off from the main MCU narrative. Alternatively, they could've done something more befitting of a comic book film and tied his exit into the multiverse, which was established in Into the Spider-Verse.
With Sony's announced Madame Web film, perhaps they could've set up some sort of interdimensional story wherein he would've had to team up with Miles Morales or something, possibly against universe-hopping foes like Morlun and the Inheritors. Frankly, once we start talking about inter-dimensional travel, the possibilities are endless.
Honestly, we'll probably never know what the plan was. Tom Rothman recently stated that he hopes to extend the Sony-Disney contract and continue sharing Spidey with the MCU, so it looks like we probably won't be losing him any time soon. This is one of those things that Tom should TOTALLY spoil, since it's no longer in the cards (as far as we know).