Sony boss on Spider-Man swinging back to the MCU: ‘The door is closed’ - at least for now

It’s looking more and more certain that Spider-Man fans’ wait for the web slinger to make any future appearances on Disney’s side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be a long and indefinite one. 

Thanks to new remarks from Sony Pictures’ CEO about Spidey’s pivotal place in the studio’s larger plans, our friendly neighborhood wall crawler indeed appears to be exclusively committed to Sony’s side of the Marvel superhero divide for the foreseeable future — and, perhaps, even beyond.

Sony Pictures chairman Tony Vinciquerra told Variety that “for the moment the door is closed” on any possibility for Disney and Sony to resolve their recent differences over whether, and how, to share Spider-Man — an icon who’s always been one of Marvel’s most enticing characters, even before rejoining the big screen Avengers. 

The “for the moment” part of Vinciquerra’s statement may yet indicate that the two companies’ recent breakdown in negotiations to involve Spider-Man in the next batch of Marvel movies hasn’t spoiled the possibility of revisiting crossovers in the more distant future, though. Vinciquerra also said that there’s “no ill will” between the two companies over the dispute, and that there’s “a long life” for a character with as durable a fan appeal as Spidey. 

That perhaps suggests, as Variety infers, that “the web-slinging hero might swing his way back to the Disney-owned company” at some unforeseen point down the road. For now, though, Sony definitely has cinematic universe-sized plans of its own for Peter Parker and beyond, with Tom Holland still on board to keep stealing scenes in mainline Spidey films.

In addition to a planned sequel to this summer’s box office-smashing Spider-Man: Far From Home, there’s also a Venom sequel in the works, an upcoming Morbius movie, and, according to Vinciquerra, “five or six” TV shows set within Spidey’s world — all overseen, thanks to a recently-struck five-year megadeal with Sony Pictures Television, by the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse creative dream duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

Iron Man director and Happy Hogan actor Jon Favreau sounded hopeful about Spidey’s crossover future as well, telling an audience at the same Variety-hosted event where Vinciquerra made his remarks that he’s “cautiously optimistic,” adding that any new Spidey-sharing agreements are still “a long way away… I’m hopeful that there’s a way for us all to play together going forward.”

For now, Spidey fans can settle in for a long wait while Spider-Man and his superhero sidekicks hang out at Sony. Barring a surprise, the Jared Leto-starring Morbius is the next-to-release movie set within the Spider-Man universe, and it’s slated to arrive on July 31 of next year.