With the writing looking like it’s on the wall—the divorce about as final as it can be at this point—people are still mourning the split between Sony’s “Spider-Man” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By the sound of all the various reports over the last few weeks, Sony, and even Tom Holland still believe they can make a robust Spider-verse on their own and Marvel is terribly occupied given that they have a whole slate of Disney+ Marvel limited series to add to their workload. It might break the heart of fans, but it’s almost the perfect time to split: Tony Stark is no longer part of the MCU and thus Peter Parker—for all that he’s indebted physically or otherwise to his mentor—has no real connections left to the MCU. With Tony gone, Sony can quickly phase out Happy Hogan, and that’s really the last Marvel vestige aside from the legacy of the suit (and who knows how they handle that).
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But people are still discussing and pouring over it. The “Avengers: Endgame” directors Joe and Anthony Russo—the filmmakers who are principally responsible for bringing Spider-Man into the MCU during “Captain America: Civil War,” were recently in up north at the Toronto International Film Festival promoting “Mosul,” the latest film from their production company/mini-studio AGBO, along with Marvel screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus.
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The duo reiterated recent comments given to the press: given how hard it was to get Spidey into the MCU in the first place, they’re not at all surprised, it’s all fallen apart.
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“It was so difficult to get him into ‘Civil War.’ It was an extremely long and hard process,” Anthony Russo told the Toronto Sun recently. “But we were driven to help make it happen. But (Marvel Studios President) Kevin Feige pulled it off, somehow. Disney and all the good people at Sony found a way to make it work, and it lasted a few films. We had a wonderful experience with that, and I think audiences really appreciated that marriage. But we know how hard that marriage was to make in the first place, so the fact that the marriage fell apart isn’t really that surprising to me and Joe.”
Joe Russo continued, saying that the Marvel/Sony union was difficult and felt impermanent while it was happening, adding he thinks ultimately Sony is making a big mistake.
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“It was a tenuous, fraught union throughout the whole process,” he said. “But, I will say, stepping back and trying to be objective as possible, that I think it’s a tragic mistake on Sony’s part to think that they can replicate Kevin’s penchant for telling incredible stories and the amazing success he has had over the years. I think it’s a big mistake.”
Well, you know where the Russos allegiances lie, though considering they’ve made four movies with Marvel, that makes a lot of sense. Indeed, Spider-Man was down to the wire originally, and Markus and McFeely had written alternative drafts were Tony Stark had recruited Ant-Man to his ‘Civil War’ team in case the deal fell apart. Well, it finally did, none of the filmmakers seem surprised, and everyone thinks Sony is going to have a difficult time trying to duplicate Marvel’s success. First off, they have way fewer characters to work with, even fewer heroes and they don’t have Kevin Feige. But all signs point to a healthy Sony—“Venom” and “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” as a big success—and the studio going it alone, at least for now.
