my thoughts on Spider-Man’s live-action portrayals and the recent Marvel Studios/Sony split

In 2015, Marvel Studios announced that newcomer, Tom Holland, would be the MCU’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. Fans and critics were skeptical, to say the least. In the last 13 years, we’d already seen two different Spider-Mans. Now, I’m not going to try to pretend that the Spider-Men of my childhood don’t hold a special place in my heart. But in the ongoing and unceasing “Who’s the Best Spidey” debate, I have to say that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both lacked in at least one aspect of their portrayal. For Maguire, it was Spidey’s wit and sarcastic charm. I definitely believed he was the nerdy awkward Peter Parker. I even looked past the fact that he looked 28, playing a 17-year-old. But his charm in the mask? It needed a little work. To be Spider-Man, you have to embody both characters: the aforementioned web-head and his true identity Peter Parker.

 Andrew Garfield’s take was a little bit closer. He had the charm and cool that the famous web-slinger is known for, but I just wasn’t buying the handsome, tall, skateboarding Peter Parker that Garfield was selling. I remember seeing “The Amazing Spider-Man” in theaters and whispering to my sister, “he’s definitely Spider-Man, but he’s way too hot to be Peter.” Peter Parker’s confidence comes after he is given powers, but Garfield was cool, if not a little awkward, from the very beginning of the movie.

As an avid Spider-Man fan, I had had enough new Spider-Mans (I can only watch Uncle Ben die so many times), so the MCU’s announcement was not met with enthusiasm. But I was wrong. So very very wrong. “Go back in time and smack myself” wrong. Tom Holland is my Spider-Man and my Peter Parker. I believe that he is a 15-year-old superhero, who’s entering a very complex world that’s way out of his pay grade. Who wants to show that he’s not just a child. He’s brave, a little zealous, and he has a tendency to talk too much, but he manages to earn the respect of Iron Man, and the rest of the Avengers. But most importantly, underneath the mask, he’s Peter Parker. The same dorky, vulnerable kid from Queens who can barely talk to the girl he likes, and who still wants to maintain some level of normalcy. But as we know “with great power…”, you get the picture. The MCU had once again struck gold. Stan Lee himself praised Holland’s portrayal, musing that “It’s as if we created a living being to be Spider-Man, and it turned out to be Tom.” It was a match made in heaven. But it didn’t happen overnight.

In order for Spider-Man to make his grand debut, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, owner of the rights to Spider-Man since 1999, made an unheard-of deal to share him. Sony would pay to finance his solo films in their entirety and receive all the profits made. Marvel would serve as the creative team, casting the actors and choosing the writers and directors, and they would finally get to include Peter Parker in their cinematic universe. Everybody wins right? If only such a union could last. 

Last week, during Disney’s giant D23 Expo, the convention where Disney previews all of its new and highly anticipated content, it was announced that Spider-Man would no longer be featured in the MCU. Turns out that Disney wanted more than creative control, so they proposed splitting the production cost in exchange for some of the profits. Sony clearly wasn’t keen on the idea, and I’m not a financial expert (some days I even still count on my fingers) but Sony’s decision makes sense to me. Spider-Man is one of Sony’s most lucrative assets and to agree to share their profits with Disney, a company that already has over 4 major franchises under its payroll, was not logical. Disney is doubling down on their side, with President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige reportedly saying that the MCU told the story they wanted to tell with Spider-Man and that he was never meant to be in the cinematic universe forever. Now, on top of not being a financial expert, I’m not a film producer so I’m not 100% on this, but seeing that Spider-Man: Far From Home’s post-credit scene was a giant, game-changing cliffhanger, I’m not really seeing the resolution that Feige is. 

When the news broke, many people’s first instinct, myself included, was to blame Sony. Honestly, I just want Spider-Man to fight alongside The Human Torch, and I didn’t care what had to be done to make that happen. But after researching  the terms of their previous deal, Disney not only seems greedy, but the argument could be made that Marvel Studios used this social media announcement to bully Sony into agreeing to their terms. Disney is already bringing in revenue from Star Wars, the MCU, the properties from Fox Studios that they recently acquired, ESPN, and their upcoming streaming service Disney+ just to name a few. That being said, the execs at Marvel Studios probably could’ve agreed to leave the Spidey money alone. Fingers crossed, they’ll realize that they agree with me and find a way to reconcile with Sony. 

On a positive note, Tom Holland has confirmed he will continue to play Spider-Man. Just not with the rest of his Marvel counterparts. Holland was at D23 last week and spoke, very graciously I might add, about his MCU departure saying, “The future for Spider-Man will be different, but it will be equally as awesome and amazing, and we’ll find new ways to make it even cooler.” I want to believe he’s right. The one worry I have with Sony’s Spider-Man movies is that they will suffer due to the fact that all of his other experiences, up unto this point, have been interwoven with the rest of the MCU. In previous films, Peter and his classmates talk about the Avengers and even watch a health video in gym class that features Capt. America. Sony owns none of the rights to any of those characters, so the question of how they’ll get around little details like that is one I’m looking forward to seeing them answer. But regardless of which studio’s name is or isn’t named in the credits, as long as Tom Holland is under the mask, I’ll definitely still be purchasing a ticket.

Sources:

https://ew.com/article/2016/06/20/stan-lee-praises-tom-holland-spider-man/

https://ew.com/movies/2019/08/24/tom-holland-spider-man-future-disney-sony/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tangled-contractual-why-sony-apos-133007636.html