Sony's Marvel Franchise Just Got A Very Interesting Official Name

You might've heard, but the first trailer for the new "Spider-Man" flick is out in the world, and it's safe to say "No Way Home" is about to break the Marvel Cinematic Universe open in ways too major to fully comprehend just yet. That trailer did, of course, confirm several theories that've been spinning around the web for months now, primarily the opening of the multiverse that's set to cause major issues for Spidey (Tom Holland), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and the MCU at large. 

It also heralded the arrival of a few big bads from "Spider-Man" films past. While Alfred Molina's Doc Ock (from the Tobey Maguire trilogy) is front and center in the trailer, we also get teases of Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin and Thomas Haden Church's Sandman (also the Maguire movies), along with Jamie Foxx's Electro and Rhys Ifans' Lizard (the Andrew Garfield franchise) — meaning Spider-Man will likely face off against a big screen Sinister Six in the film.

As Spider-Man fans no doubt know, Sony Pictures has been filling out their own cinematic universe of web-slinger-adjacent movies in recent years via a slate of flicks fronting famous villains from "Spider-Man" comics. And with "No Way Home" officially blending Sony's Spider-verse into the fracturing MCU timeline, it seems more crossover madness may indeed be on the horizon as ScreenRant is reporting Sony Pictures has just renamed their Marvel off-shoot projects "Sony's Spider-Man Universe."

The implications of that name are obviously quite major, as "Sony's Spider-Man Universe" implies Marvel's web-slinger will be directly involved in upcoming movies from Sony. That would be an intriguing turn of events as just a couple of years ago a very public scuffle between Sony and Marvel over the rights to "Spider-Man" saw Tom Holland's Spidey briefly exiting the MCU altogether (via IndieWire). It now seems part of the agreement that brought Holland's Peter Parker back to the MCU involved Marvel cutting a deal that shares the character with Sony's burgeoning Spider-Verse.

Prior to announcing that name change, those Sony movies (including Tom Hardy's "Venom" movies, Jared Leto's long-delayed "Morbius," and the upcoming Aaron Taylor-Johnson-starring "Kraven the Hunter") were viewed as separate entities from Marvel's "Spider-Man" movies. But with the multiverse breaking wide open in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," and past villains from Sony Pictures' offerings making their way into the MCU, it only makes sense that Marvel's Spider-Man would now claim some screen time in the Sony-verse.

Those universes crossing over should be an exciting prospect for Spidey fans the world over. The only question is whether Tom Holland will be the Peter Parker those villains are up against as "No Way Home" marks the official end of his Marvel contract. Luckily, Holland has been very vocal about wanting to return to the role (per Collider), so here's hoping Marvel and Sony lock him in for new films sooner rather than later.