Marvel dropped a classic good news/bad news combo on fans in regard to Tom Holland's future as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Doom-and-gloom has been gathering in the MCU fan community ever since Amy Pascal hinted that Spider-Man could return to his separate Sony-based continuity after next year's Avengers: Infinity War.
The good news we mentioned earlier is that — according to Marvel's creative boss Kevin Feige — Tom Holland will be back for Avengers 4 and his own Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel in the MCU after Infinity War.
"That's as far as it goes for now," Feige told The Hollywood Report. That was the bad news we warned you about.
While it's not a definitive announcement that Spidey will be saying goodbye to his Avengers pals, it's clear that Marvel and Sony have very different ideas for the future of the web-slinger.
Sony is already moving ahead on a Spider-Man Universe spinoff for Venom and a team-up for female anti-heroes Black Cat and Silver Sable — but Marvel has absolutely no involvement in those.
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"We had a very particular plan about Spidey himself," Kevin Feige explained last night.
One encouraging sign is that Tom Holland has hinted that plans were in the works for a Harry Potter-esque series of Spider-Man: Homecoming sequels to explore Peter Parker's school years.
"You know those discussions all happen behind closed doors with the creatives and I'm only brought into the process much later, when we have a script and I can sort of write little notes on what I'd like to happen," Holland explained.
"But I think that is the overall plan, I think the Harry Potter movies are a perfect example, they worked so well. I'm such a huge fan, as are billions of people, so why not follow that perfect formula? And I think we can do something really exciting with that."
Please make it work, Marvel and Sony!
Tom will be swinging across the skies of New York City once again when Spider-Man: Homecoming is released on July 7. Watch a trailer below:
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
