It's the star-powered custody battle tearing Hollywood apart — and it's all over your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
On Tuesday, reports indicated that talks between Disney and Sony Pictures broke down, with neither party able to agree on future terms of their shared ownership of the character. As a result, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige will no longer produce additional films in the Spider-Man franchise, meaning Peter Parker's days in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are almost certainly over.
The studios' collaboration on the character was a unique one to begin with. When Disney acquired Marvel for $4 billion in 2009, it inherited a star-studded roster of iconic heroes — but Spider-Man stayed behind at Sony, the studio that helped shepherd the current superhero era into existence in 2002 with Toby McGuire's take on the web-slinger.
Things changed two sequels and one failed reboot later, when Disney ($DIS) and Sony ($SNE) agreed to share the rights to the radioactive teenager, allowing Spider-Man to appear in Feige's Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside The Avengers, in addition to standalone movies produced by Sony.
Negotiations reportedly collapsed when Disney insisted on a 50-50 stake in future Spider-Man movies, a far cry from the current deal giving Feige and company 5 percent of the series' first ticket gross and 100 percent of merchandising revenue.
That offer reportedly prompted Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman to walk away from the bargaining table, leaving Peter Parker's fate solely in Sony's hands, signalling the end of Spider-Man's future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Most audiences might not notice the change — Sony is reportedly already at work on two more sequels led by Spidey's most recent inhabitant, Tom Holland. The studio also owns the rights to other characters in the Spider-Verse, like Tom Hardy's "Venom" and Jared Leto's "Morbius," and has a trove of other highly-adaptable villains and storylines at its disposal.
But don't expect Holland to make any more appearances in Disney's Marvel films alongside tentpole characters Thor, Black Panther, or Captain Marvel as he exits the cinematic universe that was seemingly positioning him to take the reins in a post-Tony Stark future.
Even in a superhero landscape crowded with dozens of caped crusaders, Spider-Man stands out as one of the most valuable pieces of intellectual property in the pop-culture universe. This summer alone, the character helped fuel Disney's 'Avengers: Endgame' and its road to becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time, and then turned in Sony's most successful release ever, "Spider-Man: Far From Home," just a few months later.
In a year that's seen one billion-dollar win after another for Disney, Mickey Mouse finally lost a battle. That's not to say Spidey won't swing back to another studio in the future, especially given Hollywood's volatile past with the character. Sony is leaving the door open for a return; The Hollywood Reporter exclusively obtained a statement from the studio, expressing its disappointment in the split, adding that it hopes "things change in the future."
For now, though, one of showbiz's most lucrative and beloved protagonists is back at Sony — a massive coup, but one that begs that simple but ominous reminder: With great power comes great responsibility.
