For about a month last year, fans thought for sure that Sony and Disney weren’t able to come to another agreement about how to handle Spider-Man. And as a result, the hero’s next film would have to rid itself of Marvel Studios connections, which have been the backbone of the first two ‘Spider-Man’ films. However, after some more negotiations, including a call from star Tom Holland, the two studios came to an agreement and the crisis was averted. But in a new interview with MTV News, Holland reveals that Sony did have a Plan B if the whole Disney thing didn’t work out.
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If you’re not someone that is really embedded in the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe, suffice to say that Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, has played an integral role in the story thus far, and his two films (‘Homecoming’ and ‘Far From Home’) feature tons of MCU connections. This made the idea of a third film with no MCU a frightening prospect, in the eyes of many fans. But according to Tom Holland, it would have been just fine, either way.
“The future for Spider-Man was still very bright with Sony,” explained Holland. “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.”
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He added, “But that said, I’m really glad to be back in the MCU and to have the team back together because I kind of feel like it’s where he belongs now. I’m really grateful that Bob Iger and Tom Rothman allowed me to be a part of the process of bringing him home. It was a pretty cool experience and also the best bragging rights ever, I saved Spider-Man.”
It’s important to mention that the new deal between Sony and Disney includes the upcoming third ‘Spider-Man’ film and one more Marvel Studios non-‘Spidey’ project. So, unless another deal is made, there very well could still be a reason for Sony to break the emergency glass and put their MCU-removal plan into motion. But for now, at least, we can only speculate as to what that might have looked like.
The third ‘Spider-Man’ film is expected to hit theaters on July 16, 2021.