Amid Sony/Marvel Dispute, Spider-Man's Tom Holland Says New Movie Will Be "Very Different"

Even if Spider-Man leaves the Marvel Cinematic Universe because of the dispute between Disney/Marvel Studios and Sony, Tom Holland will return to take on the role of Peter Parker. Last weekend at the Keystone Comic-Con in Philadelphia, the Spider-Man actor confirmed that there is likely to be at least one more Spidey movie with him in the lead role, according to GameSpot sister site ComicBook.

In fact, Holland pointed out that he and the creative team have already pitched a third Spider-Man movie. It was previously confirmed that Far From Home writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers will return for the third movie, and they are apparently taking an outside-of-the-box approach to their concept for it.

"We sat down with some of our creatives. We pitched Spider-Man 3, which is going to be something very special, it's going to be something very different," Holland said.

It's unknown right now if director Jon Watts will come back for the third film. It was recently reported that Marvel is now trying to hire Watts for another movie, as he is not yet signed on for any additional Spider-Man films. Holland also spoke about his future as Spider-Man, and he referred to Marvel in the past tense with Sony as his future.

"I'm just so grateful that Marvel changed my life and allowed my dreams to come true and Sony allowing me to continue living my dream," he said. "It's a crazy week and it's never been done before so we'll see how it goes and it'll be as amazing and as fun."

Holland wasn't clear how the next film will be different, but we may be able to glean insight from MCU boss Kevin Feige. Months before the split, he said in an interview with CinemaBlend that going forward, Spider-Man will be less in the shadow of the larger MCU.

"So in terms of your question about going forward, it'll be fun to see Spidey back in his element, out of the shadow of Tony, out of the shadow of the other Avengers, as his own man now, as his own hero," Feige said. "And yet now facing his own challenges that aren't coming from Avengers fighting, like Civil War, or aliens coming, like Infinity War or Endgame. It's all Peter focused and Peter based."

It sounds as if a more traditional Peter-focused solo film was already being planned before the split, and that approach would still make sense in a post-MCU Spidey world.

Last week, news broke that Disney and Marvel could not agree on terms regarding the future of Spider-Man movies. Sony holds the movie rights to Spider-Man. Years ago, Sony and Disney agreed on a deal to have Spider-Man join the MCU, beginning with Captain America: Civil War. That deal was never expected to last forever, and now it seems it is coming to an end. A recent report suggested Feige would no longer be involved with producing Spider-Man movies, as Disney/Marvel and Sony could not agree to terms. The end result, many believe, is that Spider-Man will not be a part of the MCU going forward, although that has not been explicitly confirmed yet. (It's also possible Sony and Disney could still agree to some new deal.)

Sony has a history of producing its own Spider-Man movies, as the company made the original Spider-Man films starring Tobey Maguire and later the Amazing Spider-Man franchise with Andrew Garfield. Most recently, it produced Venom, which was entirely separate from the MCU.

Back in July, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige talked about how the next Spider-Man movie will "have to do something completely different" due to the events of Far From Home. If you've seen the movie, you know what he's talking about.

It is no surprise that Sony wants to make more Spider-Man movies with Holland, as Homecoming and Far From Home were enormously successful at the box office. Homecoming made $880 million at the box office, with Far From Home bringing in $1.11 billion to surpass Skyfall ($1.108 billion) to become Sony's highest-grossing movie ever.

Even with Spider-Man leaving the MCU, Disney will continue to benefit from the character as it gets 100% of the money from Spider-Man merchandise. (Disney paid Sony a reported one-time $175 million fee for the Spider-Man merch rights, in addition to an annual royalty fee around $30 million.)

In addition to Spider-Man, Sony is investing in Holland with the Uncharted movie where Holland plays a younger Nathan Drake. The movie recently lost director Dan Trachtenberg, but Holland is still on board and the movie aims to start shooting in early 2020.