The Spider-Man franchise is once again a major topic of conversation with the release of Kraven the Hunter in theaters. The long-awaited Spider-Man spin-off revolves around the titular character from Marvel’s library of comic books. With the mixed-to-negative reactions to the film, however, a new report has surfaced claiming that Sony is considering selling the Spider-Man rights back to Marvel.
Kraven the Hunter is only the latest Spider-Man spin-off to be produced by Sony. The studio has also been involved with the Venom trilogy, Morbius, and Madame Web. Outside of the Venom films, however, the responses to Sony’s spin-offs have been largely negative. Reports have already surfaced claiming that Sony is putting their shared universe on pause, but now this report claims they could be selling it altogether.
Sony acquired the rights to Spider-Man long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was established. Over the last decade, however, Sony has been collaborating with Marvel Studios to make Spider-Man part of the MCU. At the same time, Sony has been attempting to create their own Spider-Man universe albeit without the beloved superhero involved.
Now, according to insider @MyTimeToShineH, because this universe seems to have backfired – Sony might want to give the brand over to Marvel Studios after all. Here’s what they shared:
“I hear Sony is seriously considering selling the Spider-Man IP back to Marvel.”
I hear Sony is seriously considering selling the Spider-Man IP back to Marvel 👀 pic.twitter.com/dZIdXwu3oC
— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) December 15, 2024
Obviously this should be taken with a grain of salt, because even if it’s true, Sony has only considered the possibility. If they do decide to give the rights back to Marvel Studios, however, then that would give Marvel more freedom with the Spider-Man character and those villains and heroes associated with him. Many fans have been hoping such a transaction would be made, and now following the release of Kraven the Hunter, it could very well be a possibility.
As always, we’ll have to see what happens. In the meantime, Sony and Marvel Studios are collaborating on Spider-Man 4 with Tom Holland, and Sony is working on Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse and the television series Spider-Noir. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional Spider-Man and Marvel news as we have it.