One of the most interesting deals between studios in recent memory came several years ago when Sony Pictures worked out a deal with Disney/Marvel Studios to allow the latter to produce a series of ‘Spider-Man’ films. In hindsight, the deal was genius, allowing for Sony to reinvent its most popular superhero by allowing him to interact with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and for Marvel Studios, it gave the studio the chance to use one of the classic Marvel hero to spice things up. However, according to a new behind-the-scenes book about the history of Marvel Studios, the deal was far from an obvious choice for Amy Pascal and the folks at Sony.
As seen in the new book, “The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe” by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry, the negotiation between Sony and Marvel Studios over the idea of teaming up for a ‘Spider-Man’ reboot is detailed. Apparently, Marvel and Kevin Feige had the idea of including Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in the MCU. But Feige needed to win over Amy Pascal and the folks at Sony, first.
READ MORE: Two Mystery ‘Spider-Man’ Spinoff Films Join ‘Kraven The Hunter’ In 2023
Feige called together a special, off-the-books meeting with his top lieutenants and they brainstormed what they would do with Spider-Man, if given the shot.
“In that closed room, two questions were posed: If there were an opportunity to broker some kind of deal with Sony, how would it work? And if they leveraged something like a five-picture deal, what stories would they want to tell?” said the behind-the-scenes book (via CBR).
After that, Feige went to a meeting with Pascal to pitch her on the idea of rebooting ‘Spider-Man’ with the help of Marvel Studios. Things…didn’t go so well.
“At first, I was super resentful,” Pascal said (via The Direct). “I think I started crying and threw him out of my office, or threw a sandwich at him – I’m not sure which.”
Initially, Pascal was hoping that Feige would be more hands-on with the development of “The Amazing Spider-Man 3” with Andrew Garfield returning for a new adventure as Peter Parker. But then she thought about it a bit more and had a change of heart.
She added, “By the fifth [‘Spider-Man’] movie, we weren’t giving them anything new. And I have to be honest about it, we were trying so hard to be different, we even went into places to be different that we shouldn’t have. We weren’t fresh anymore.”
As we all know now, Sony and Marvel worked out a deal and we got Tom Holland appearing as Spider-Man in ‘Civil War,’ followed by two ‘Spider-Man’ reboot films and two ‘Avengers’ features. Now, five years after his first appearance in the MCU, Feige and Co. have teamed up with Sony for “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which arrives on December 17.