Bad news: The third Spider-Man series that has been produced by Sony Pictures is seemingly ruined. Two weeks ago, Marvel fans received their biggest shock since “Avengers: Endgame”. News outlet, Deadline, revealed that Sony Pictures and production-giant Disney failed to reach an agreement on the profit split for the current Spider-Man series. 

At first, many fans were confused. Will there be a third movie? Will Tom Holland still be Spider-Man? What does this mean for Peter Parker and his current status in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? 

In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment and all of its intellectual property. This was great news for all Marvel fans, but there was a lingering issue in the back of everyone’s minds: Would Disney try to incorporate the character of Spider-Man into their cinematic universe? It took a few years, but eventually the world saw Tom Holland officially introduced as Spider-Man in 2015 with the blockbuster hit ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’. He was an instant hit, and since then, Holland has starred in several other Marvel movies, including a sequel of his own (titled “Spider-Man: Far From Home”) which recently broke $1 billion at the box office. 

The only way Disney was able to create these movies as a part of the Marvel universe was through a financial agreement with Sony Pictures, the original creators and producers of the Spider-Man movie series. In this agreement, Disney and Sony agreed that Disney would receive five percent of the box office profits from Spider-Man movies and Sony would receive 95%, with Disney receiving merchandise profits. However, Disney recently tried to renegotiate this deal: they wanted 50% of the profits from the box office while still keeping their original merchandise profits. Sony refused. This resulted in a split from Sony on Disney’s part: Marvel’s executive producer Kevin Feige will no longer have a major role in Spider-Man’s production. 

All of this commotion has unfolded very quickly in terms of Internet drama. There have been countless tweets, Instagram posts and memes about the subject. Fans everywhere are concerned and have coined the hashtag #BoycottSony. 

So what is the big deal anyways? Part of the appeal of this new Spider-Man series is in his seamless integration into other Marvel movies, such as the Avengers series. Fans grew to love Peter Parker’s father-son relationship with Tony Stark (portrayed by Robert Downey Jr.) and his casual banter with other Marvel characters such as the Guardians of the Galaxy. With this split from Sony, fans worry that he will no longer be able to participate or star in the upcoming Marvel movies.

And their fears may be true: Disney may no longer own rights to Spider-Man or any of his intellectual property, meaning the character cannot be incorporated into any future Marvel efforts.

As of right now, it seems fans only have one request. Please stop ruining Spider-Man.