North Texas Daily

Earlier this year the world experienced “Avengers: Endgame,” one of the top-grossing films of all time that completely changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. With the aftereffects of “Endgame” settling down, fans were left wondering, “What now?”

Marvel’s response to that question was a highly anticipated film featuring one of the greats. “Spider-Man: Far From Home” was released in theaters on July 2 of this year, just two months after “Endgame.” The film was a box office success that contained a post-credits scene that left fans wondering what was next for our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

So, it goes without saying how horrified people were when they discovered that Sony and Disney’s partnership shattered in late August. The “divorce” allowed Sony to walk off with the famous web-slinger. If things were going well with Spider-Man films, what happened?

The famous saying “Money makes the world go ‘round” is extremely prominent in this situation. After the success of “Far from Home” there had been talks between Disney and Sony concerning their partnership. Disney wanted to change their agreement and asked if future Spider-Man films could be a 50/50 co-financing arrangement with Sony rather than the current deal which allowed Marvel to receive a range of 5% of first dollar gross.

Sony declined this offer and tried to configure the proposal to find a medium, but Disney refused all of them. Somewhere along the way, negotiations got messy and resulted with a split between the two.

Fans receiving the news flocked to social media to express their sadness and outrage against the split. Understandably, these fans were scared to see what would happen with Spider-Man in the MCU. Many of them began to choose sides in the debate and changed from fans of Spider-Man, to fans of Sony or Disney.

It is completely understandable for people to go on social media and express how upset they are. However, there are those that go a bit too far. Toxic fanbases have always been an issue in franchises. These individuals are not afraid to express how they feel when it comes to things they disagree with. But going so far as to harass other fans, stars of the films and even executives make the overall fanbase look bad even if it was just the actions of a few bad eggs.

There are fans fighting to make sure their voices are correct and deem any other one as simply wrong. They forget the importance of what it means to be a fan and forget that we all are, indeed, fans of the same franchise.

While Spider-Man has only has two solo films in the franchise, his character holds a giant significance in the MCU ever since the events of “Infinity War” and “Endgame.” At the end of “Endgame” and during the events of “Far From Home,” Peter Parker was set up to be the start of the new Avengers. Now, all of those plans that have been years in the making have been thrown out the window.

It has already been confirmed that Spider-Man will exit the MCU due to the split, which places Marvel Studios in a giant conundrum. It will be interesting to see how they can go on with their plans, especially since their new front-runner has just been taken from them.

With all of this going on it is easy to see the discord and chaos erupting between Marvel and Sony. Disney and Sony should continue negotiations because of Spider-Man’s place within the MCU. Films were created to entertain people and that is something I believe both Disney and Sony are failing to remember.Money will undoubtedly come with each film and people are still out there anxiously awaiting to see what comes next.

Featured Illustration: Christopher De La Paz