Last month, we reported that Marvel/Disney and Sony were splitting ways over Spider-Man. Sony still wanted to make Spider-Man movies, naturally, but Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige would no longer be the head creative. The split came down to money with Disney wanting a 50/50 co-financing deal on future Spider-Man projects as opposed to the previous deal where they only got 5%. Granted, going from 5% to 50% is a lot, especially for one of Sony’s biggest properties, but I would argue that 50% of a movie people want is better than 100% of a movie people don’t want.

But it’s all a moot point as the studios have sent out a press release announcing that they’ve patched things up and Feige will oversee a third Spider-Man movie that’s set for release on July 16, 2021. Spider-Man will also appear in a future Marvel Studios film to be named at a later date.

“I am thrilled that Spidey’s journey in the MCU will continue, and I and all of us at Marvel Studios are very excited that we get to keep working on it,” said Feige in the press release.  “Spider-Man is a powerful icon and hero whose story crosses all ages and audiences around the globe. He also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-verse you never know what surprises the future might hold.”

This is probably the best scenario for all involved. Yes, Sony makes less money than if they had taken Spider-Man back and their Spider-Man-related properties remain in limbo with the question still hanging of whether or not Tom Holland’s Spider-Man can appear in movies like Venom 2 or Morbius when Kevin Feige has no creative control over those projects. And yet, nothing has been jeopardized. Sony was faced with the choice of moving forward with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man but excising all his Marvel history, which would be awkward, or rebooting the character entirely, which would mean losing all the good will the latest iteration had garnered.

Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed yet, and it’s possible that Marvel and Sony are setting up an ending rather than a new chapter. It’s possible that this—a third standalone Spider-Man movie and another appearance in the MCU—is all that’s left, but honestly, that would be fine. Spider-Man: Far From Home has a massive cliffhanger that should be paid off, and what happens from there is anyone’s guess. I’m glad these two massive companies were able to work things out because they had a good thing going, and now the fans get to see some kind of conclusion to the Homecoming story.

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Image via Sony Pictures
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Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
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Image via Sony Pictures