Is Spider-Man: Homecoming Sony’s life raft in the Spider-verse?

Spider-Man officially joins the MCU this summer, but Sony isn’t letting him or his world go completely. Amy Pascal has confirmed that Silver and Black, as well as Venom, will not be part of the MCU.

With Spider-Man: Homecoming hitting theaters on July 11, fans are hoping that Sony has finally gotten the web-slinger right. This franchise – set to be a trilogy – will be the studio’s third attempt at the story, but this time they have the help of Marvel Studios. As a result, Spidey is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Sony still retains the rights to the character.

So far, this team-up seems to be successful – early reception of Spider-Man: Homecoming is great.

With reactions like this, the already high anticipation has skyrocketed even higher. But is it really Sony who’s found the winning formula?

Marvel’s Role

According to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Sony actually released most of the creative control during filming. In an interview with THR, Feige noted that Sony was mostly there just to get the movie made.

"“It really came down to me telling Amy in her office that I think the best thing for this character is: Sony has the rights, that’s not changing. Have Sony pay for the movie, distribute the movie, market the movie. Just let us make the movie and incorporate him into our universe."

Now, along with two sequels, Spider-Man: Homecoming will also have two related spinoffs. Tom Hardy has been cast as Eddie Brock in a Venom standalone, and Sony is working on a Silver Sable/Black Cat film, titled Silver and Black.

Initially, Amy Pascal, producer of Homecoming, said the films will all be intertwined, leading fans to believe the MCU was expanding even further.

"“Both movies will now take place in the world that we are creating for Peter Parker. They’ll be adjuncts to it, they may be different locations, but it will still all be in the same world. And they will be connected to each other as well.”"

Just a few days later, in an interview with Fandango, Pascal has clarified her comments.

Sony’s Universe Without Marvel

So no, Silver Sable and Black Cat won’t be part of the MCU. And I have to ask … can Sony handle the post-Homecoming pressure?

The studio has retained the rights to the Spider-verse since 2002. Sam Raimi’s original trilogy is generally regarded as “average.” Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man got fairly similar reviews.

The main issue is that Sony has only gotten the story half right. Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker was perfectly awkward, but Andrew Garfield fully nailed Spider-Man’s fatal sarcasm. The studio has struggled with rounding out the whole character.

With the anticipated success of Spider-Man: Homecoming, future Spider-verse films will be held to a much higher bar. Knowing that it was Marvel Studios who truly made Homecoming, it seems Sony is keeping the rights solely to have claim to an entity the size of Spider-Man.

Let’s face it: fans want to see the wall crawler on screen. Sony cashed in on that fact with its first runs at the franchise. But after two sub-par attempts, they lost their grip on the character, with fans clamoring to get the rights back to Marvel.

Now, if Homecoming is the success it’s expected to be, Venom and Silver and Black are not only guaranteed an audience, but a happy one at that. At this point, Sony’s Spider-verse fate is in the hands of another studio entirely – and they’re banking on that.

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Still, without Marvel’s creative forces, Sony is once again on its own for the spinoffs. Marvel might give Sony their fans back, but Sony has to impress all on their own.