What a stupid PR move regardless of how this shakes out. Think about it, Marvel/Sony make a record-breaking Spidey movie, have a director's cut re-releasing in theatres as we speak, and then they throw the public into chaos and doubt about the character's future, after this amazing movie and monumental cliffhanger post-credits scene. I know they still plan on making Tom Holland movies but this will change everything, they'll have to reset this Spidey's VERY MCU-centric world somehow. I just wanted a continuation of this story they've been working hard on goddammit. Just as we get off the ground, this was my worst fear come to life.

I thought Jameson played by JK Simmons in the MCU was too good to be true, I was praying it was a concrete decision that would give fans hope they were really building a Marvel Spider-Man world together, but in the back of my mind I know how long these things with Sony last. And yeah, shame on Disney too if they're unable to make this work. I don't really care whose fault it is, the other should pick up the slack, then. You spend like 5 years developing a new mostly beloved icon of a character in a very established universe, you better have contingencies so that he can't just be ripped away because of corporate greed, just like the last 2 times. Do NOT ruin this. This really sucks. I don't trust Sony, they've never earned it when it comes to handling this character on their own. Spider-Verse was a cartoon.

Don't care what Sony does with Spidey, I'm done with the character and any future movies if he isn't in the MCU.

See ya Sony.

Great strategy. Give it a decade, the spider will crawl back to the mouse.

Without Tony Stark, there’s no place that Spider-man will be missed if they simply never reference him again... there’s no existing Avengers line-up, and he has no connection with any of the continuing solo characters. Maybe at most they’ll give a vague reference someday avoiding his name... especially if they come up with another place to use Happy going forward (say with that Iron Heart character or something.)

Not worried.

As smart as it is for SONY to go their way...it’s only 2019.

Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Doc 2, Thor4, BP2, Cap Marvel 2, Guardians 3, Fantastic Four, X-men

That takes us to, oh....circa 2023-2024...

When is there an exact NEED for SM to be in MCU again? Probably not until then. When MCU will NEED Spider-Man...their demands will come down and a deal witll be reached.

@NateBest

The last 24 hours have been hell for this site

I can hardly reply, scroll, switch comment screens without refreshing the page.

I am curious to see if there’s truth to that theory from a while back that all of the supporting characters (MJ, Ned, Flash, even May) were significantly changed in part because they were jointly controlled by Sony and Marvel to be unique to the MCU and cannot be used by either company independently.

If so, on the plus side for Sony they left the character in a place that would allow for a transition... an outed Spider-man might have to drop all of his former connections for his own safety. It would suck for audiences to suddenly have all of those relationships end, but narratively it could work.

@BaltazarOS

He is a lunatic - no ifs, ands, or buts.

It boggles my mind he actually has followers. But he also tells them everything they want to hear.

@regularmovieguy @BaltazarOS - "Hey Apple, any time you want to buy Sony Pictures and fire the idiots running it…"