Kevin Feige Confirms That Marvel, Not Sony, Will Be Making Creative Decisions For SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has confirmed that Marvel, and not Sony Pictures, who will be calling the shots when it comes to the creative decisions for their upcoming co-production Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Feige may the admission to Hey You Guys at the London premier of Captain America: Civil War. The film will feature the new iteration of Spider-Man that will be part of Marvel’s interconnected cinematic universe.

Well, I’ve known all those people for a very long time. [Spider-Man: Homecoming producer and former Sony studio head] Amy Pascal, Tom Rothman, who runs Sony now, I’ve known for years. So, it’s been great. They really are supportive in allowing us to make the creative decisions to make [Spider-Man: Homecoming], but they’ve been great partners. So far so good on that movie.

What makes this newsworthy is that before Marvel and Sony – who own the film rights to Spider-Man and numerous related characters – reached their agreement to co-share the character, Sony did not need much in terms of creative approval for their films. A look at the Licensing Agreement that was leaked out as part of the 2014 Sony hack (and is available to find on WikiLeaks) between the two studios shows that Sony must keep the character within a certain framework that keeps him recognizable as the character from the comics. For example, Sony could not change Spider-Mans’ origin and make him receive his powers from something other than a bite from a radioactive spider. But beyond that, outside of notifying Marvel what they intended to do in each film, Sony was not bound to heed any feedback they would receive from Marvel.

That Sony is relinquishing this kind of control to Marvel certainly speaks to the possibility that executives at the studio may have come to a realization that maybe Marvel has a better handle on their characters than Sony has had in the recent past. And looking at Sony’s last two Amazing Spider-Man films, I would tend to agree.

Tom Holland will be taking on the role of Peter Parker, aka the amazing Spider-Man, first in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War before appearing in his own solo film. Robert Downey Jr will be crossing over from the main Marvel Cinematic Universe to appear as Tony Stark in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Captain America: Civil War opens on May 6. Spider-Man: Homecoming opens on July 7, 2017.