Bad news, Spidey fans. Despite hopes Marvel Studios and Sony could still come to an agreement following their impasse over future Spider-Man films, Sony has confirmed the character will not feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the foreseeable future.
Sony Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tony Vinciquerra broke the news at Variety's Entertainment & Technology summit, stating that 'the door is closed' on future collaborations.
It's a shame, because the MCU is arguably the place to be in cinema right now. Avengers: Endgame recently became the highest grossing film of all time and Spider-Man: Far From Home recently crossed the billion dollar threshold at the box office - making it Sony's biggest film ever.
Business is booming, basically.
Well, now the two studios have decided that they can no longer work together. It seems as if disagreement over the co-funding relationship for future films led to Marvel supremo Kevin Feige simply walked away from negotiations.
Now, despite hopes that a reconciliation was possible, Vinciquerra appears to have doused those hopes in cold water.
In a recent interview, he said: "For the moment the door is closed. We had a great run on the Spider-Man movies.
"We tried to see if there's a way to work it out... the Marvel people are terrific people, we have great respect for them, but on the other hand we have some pretty terrific people of our own. Kevin Feige didn't do all the work."
On 20 August, Sony released a statement that said: "Much of today's news about Spider-Man has mischaracterised recent discussions about Kevin Feige's involvement in the franchise.
"We are disappointed, but respect Disney's decision not to have him continue as a lead producer of our next live action Spider-Man film.
"We hope this might change in the future, but understand that the many new responsibilities that Disney has given him - including all their newly added Marvel properties - do not allow time for him to work on IP they do not own.
"Kevin is terrific and we are grateful for his help and guidance and appreciate the path he has helped put us on, which we will continue."
A lot of people are worried about Marvel's lack of involvement in future Spider-Man flicks. After all, they had a few less-than-inspiring efforts during the start of this millennium.
Venom didn't exactly get rave reviews, either, despite performing admirably at the box office.
Whilst the fans might still turn out to see a crossover between Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock and Tom Holland's Spidey, it remains to be seen how this will all pan out.
Maybe those Spider-Man fans will have to storm Sony's offices in New York and California after all. They can't stop them all...
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: TV and Film, US Entertainment, Marvel, Spider-Man