UPDATE 9/27/19:

He’s back! Called it!

ORIGINAL POST (8/29/19):

By Suraj A. Vyas | 55 min read

An era is ending. Marvel Studios, LLC and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. no longer have an arrangement allowing for Spider-Man to be in MCU movies. This means he is back to being stuck in the “Sony-verse” of movies. This certainly explains why there was no announcement of a new Spider-Man movie at SDCC this year. Sony holds the screen rights to Spider-Man, but an agreement was reached allowing the web-slinging hero to appear in the enormously popular MCU.

Many are looking into the history of the deal with this news. Why does Sony even have control of a Marvel superhero? Well, here’s the contract (and subsequent amendment) showing Sony got the production and distribution rights to Spider-Man (and associated characters) motion pictures (as well as live-action/animated TV shows) in exchange for paying Marvel a percentage of the gross proceeds. These numbers varied for theater, home video, merchandising, soundtracks, TV series, etc. with the document discussing all sorts of different avenues for Spider-Man.

It’s over 150 pages, but it’s a fascinating read for anyone who is into the law, film, or just Spider-Man. This contract, like every contract should, gets into the nitty-gritty of what they are allowed to do with the character(s), theme park representation, how logos must be displayed, whether end credits are to be used in calculating whether a 78 minute run-time was achieved, LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. integration, video game rights, depicting characters on baseballs and basketballs, McDonald’s Corporation promotions, Spider-Man popcorn oil, etc.

I’m confident that our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man will be back in the MCU in less than a month, but until then keep checking [LINK REMOVED AS IT NOW POINTS TO A DIFFERENT SKETCHY SITE]

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