Twitter Reacts To Spider-Man Leaving The MCU
The day Sony Pictures, Disney, and Marvel Studios' Spider-Man deal came to an end is one that will live on in infamy. The news was and remains a huge deal. Since Sony and Disney, the parent company of Marvel Studios, were unable to renegotiate the terms of their original 2015 deal that saw Marvel producing Spider-Man movies with Sony retaining ownership, Tom Holland's Spider-Man is out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — ostensibly for good.
Understandably, fans the world over were shell-shocked upon hearing the news, and it's no exaggeration to say that the response to Spider-Man leaving the MCU has been incredibly emotional.
Pop culture junkie, comic book enthusiast, and filmmaker Kevin Smith took to Twitter to beg Sony to agree to Disney's terms and keep Spider-Man in the MCU: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Just stop it! Please, @SonyPictures - give @Disney what they want and many millions of us will keep giving you our money!"
Smith's tweet was in reference to the reports that Disney requested a 50 percent co-financing share in the Spider-Man film franchise, and asked to retain producing status on future films, credited to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Sony is said to have flat-out refused the proposition, as there was evidently no way the studio would be comfortable with increasing Marvel's current five percent cut of the franchise's first-day profits to a 50 percent stake.
On that note, Uproxx senior entertainment writer Mike Ryan argued that Sony is in the right here, as it would be unreasonable to expect the studio to bump up Disney's share from five percent to 50 percent. Ryan posted on Twitter, "People seem to be mad at Sony for Spider-Man and the MCU separating? If you read the Deadline piece it sounds like Disney raised its price from 5 percent to 50 percent, which is a lot! It's not insane Sony didn't agree to that."
Ryan wasn't the only one who felt this way. Marvel fan @AhmedMansoor_ tweeted that Sony was smart not to bend to Disney's whims, given that the studio's Spidey franchise has been flourishing as of late. Spider-Man: Far From Home recently became Sony's highest-earning film of all time, its 2018 animated flick Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is an Academy Award-winner, and its Venom franchise kicked off with an impressive $856 million worldwide pull, which recently motivated Sony to greenlight a sequel with director Andy Serkis.
"It all sums up to money and greed. I mean, did Disney really think that Sony would let them share 50/50 in revenue? 10/90 max maybe?" their tweet reads. "It just became their highest-grossing movie of the all-time. With Venom & Into the spiderverse proceeds it's their gold mine now."
The Twitter account for Fandom.com joked that Feige must have had the same conversation with Disney CEO Bob Iger that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) had with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) at the start of Avengers: Endgame. In the film, Tony told Steve that he "lost the kid" — referring to the fact that Peter Parker got dusted in Thanos' (Josh Brolin) Avengers: Infinity War snap and there was nothing Tony could do to save him. Though Disney apparently did try to keep Holland's Spider-Man in the MCU, Sony pulled him into its web in the end.
On the subject of comparing Sony to Thanos, many feel the studio is every bit as evil as the intergalactic tyrant for not continuing to negotiate with Disney and Marvel to come up with new terms that could benefit everyone involved. Countless others are concerned that Spider-Man's exit from the MCU means that the hero's storyline in Avengers: Endgame, which saw him witness the death of his mentor Tony Stark after returning to the side of the living, and the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home will be rendered non-canon — or, at the least, won't be followed up on in any future Spider-Man movie.
One user wrote on Twitter, "How does Sony not understand that they can't just erase EVERYTHING that has happened in endgame? What do they think they're Thanos now?! Snap and you can just erase spidey from existence and everything he's been through with Tony??!! NOPE #SaveSpiderMan." Another added, "So Sony has replaced Thanos as the primary villain of the MCU?"
Many other fans, like Twitter user @BOSSKyJo, opted for all-caps tweets to capture their outrage over the situation: "TONY STARK DIDNT DIE TO SAVE PETER PARKER FOR SONY TO TAKE HIM OUT OF THE MCU! #SaveSpiderMan."
Things went from bad to worse when Sony issued its response to the matter at hand, with a spokesperson stating, "We are disappointed, but respect Disney's decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live-action Spider-Man film. We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him — including all their newly added Marvel properties — do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own."
One fan expressed hope for some kind of agreement to be reached in the future, directly addressing Sony on Twitter with a post that reads, "I respectfully request that you return to the negotiating table and make a new deal that will please us, the fans."
Another defended Disney, saying that it wasn't the studio's decision to pull Spider-Man from the MCU and arguing that Sony's statement was nothing more than damage control for denying Disney's request for a larger stake in the Spider-Man film series.
"Disney wanted more money. and deservedly so launching spidey into a billion dollar franchise," they tweeted. "Sony didnt want to pony up. so they balked. this is just damage control. pure and simple."
Sony wasn't without supporters of its own, however. One fan commended Sony for sticking to its guns in the face of a company that controls much of the film and television markets: "Finally a studio standing up for themselves respecting themselves. <3 Great job sony and I can't wait on what you will do next with the character."
When it comes to something as big as Spider-Man leaving the MCU because Sony, Disney, and Marvel couldn't agree on terms to update their ownership deal, emotions were bound to run high. It's evident that, just like the parties involved with the deal-making-and-breaking, fans are never going to agree on who's in the right and what the best outcome for Spider-Man really is. For our part, the only hope we have for Sony's two forthcoming Spider-Man movies is that the studio won't make Peter Parker suffer through the death of Uncle Ben for a third time on the big screen.