As much as fans might be desperate for Spider-Man to officially return to the Marvel Studios fold and become a permanent part of the MCU, no uncertainty involved, the reality is Spider-Man makes too much money for Sony to just hand him over. There’s absolutely no reason, or incentive, for Sony to give up one of its most popular assets, and fans would do well to be prepared for the fact that it will probably never happen.
The possibility has always felt like an inevitability. Spider-Man is, after all, one of the most prominent Marvel characters. Tom Holland's version has been featured prominently in the MCU, not just in one movie, but in several. To fans not in the know, it's easy to reach the conclusion that it's just a matter of time before the character returns to Marvel Studios. This, however, is probably more wishful thinking than anything.
One of the many reasons for the positive thinking in this regard is probably what happened with X-Men, another of Marvel’s most famous properties, which is now back in Marvel’s Studios hands. Except in these cases, it’s always about money, and the money isn’t always where fans would want it to be. The reason the X-Men rights reverted to Marvel isn’t goodwill or a desire to make people happy, but business. Disney bought 20th Century Fox for a whopping $71.3 billion, and in doing so regained the rights to some of the studio’s most famous properties, that had been sold in the late ’90s to avoid bankruptcy.
In buying 20th Century Fox Disney, Marvel’s parent company, Disney, didn’t just regain control over the X-Men, but also the Fantastic Four. The problem is, of course, that when those two very famous properties were sold, Spider-Man was also sold, to a different studio. Sony, not 20th Century Fox, acquired the rights to Spider-Man in 1998, ten years before Marvel Studios released Iron Man, back when the idea of a Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t a plan, or even a dream. The deal struck then granted Sony the opportunity to produce as many Spider-Man (or Spider-Man related) movies as it so desired, with the stipulation that it had to produce a new movie every five years.
The studio has kept its end of the bargain and then some. Does it feel like there's been too much of Spider-Man in the last twenty years? That’s probably because Sony was contractually obligated to keep making the movies, or the rights to the character would revert back to Marvel.
On paper, this sounds like a no-brainer. No studio is going to let character rights revert back to Marvel when all they have to do is use them and make money. But this has happened before, with characters like Ghost Rider, and even The Punisher, so fans have always held onto hope. Sony, however, seems to have no plans to hang up the Spider-suit, especially considering all the Spider-Man movies have been a success – even if they haven’t all been the success Sony would have hoped.
After The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out, Sony had a choice to make. The movie was expected to be the starting point for a great number of spin-offs, but the reaction wasn’t what the studio expected, and all those other projects were put on hold. They could have given up on Spider-Man then, and the fact that they didn’t means it’s likely they never will. Instead, at this point in the story, Sony inked a deal with Marvel Studios to co-produce Spider-Man movies. The solo movies featuring Spider-Man would be Sony’s property, with Marvel Studios getting 5% of the box office.
Why would Marvel Studios agree to this? Because the deal also allowed Marvel Studios to use Spider-Man in a select number of films (Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame). It was a win-win situation. Marvel Studios regained temporary use one of its most well-known characters and Sony benefited from Marvel Studios’ success with Spider-Man and earned a lot of money by basically piggybacking off the already established success of the MCU.
This deal, however, wasn’t meant to be permanent, and in 2019, it almost came to an end when negotiations regarding the future of the character fell through. Thankfully, a deal was struck, one that allowed Spider-Man to continue to appear in the MCU for at least one more movie, and Marvel Studios to co-produce another Spider-Man solo project. But this is still shaky ground, and when this deal ends, the original one will still be in place, meaning Sony will have to produce a Spider-Man movie every five years, or risk losing the character. However, and this is the important part, Sony doesn’t necessarily have to produce films featuring Peter Parker. If Sony’s Cinematic Universe bet pays off, just the association with Spider-Man will be enough for Sony to retain the rights.
Fans would love to see Spider-Man officially return to the MCU, without the uncertainty of the current situation, but the truth is, there’s no reason to think Sony has any plans to stop making Spider-Man movies in the immediate future, and no reason to believe they would ever give up such a lucrative asset. Fans are probably better off enjoying Spider-Man where they get him, and how they get him. Because Sony is set to maintain its control on the character for years to come, and that means the days of Peter Parker in the MCU might well be numbered.