Under Disney's wing, Marvel is at the height of entertainment with each of its releases fast becoming a worldwide success, but things weren't always so good for the company. At the end of the 1990s, Marvel found itself filing for bankruptcy and desperately trying to sell off the cinematic rights for its various characters. According to The Wall Street Journal, before finding its home at Disney, Marvel offered its licences to Sony Pictures but the latter company rejected the deal.
Back then, Sony were only interested in extending their rights to Spider-Man, from producing DVD only content to full on cinematic releases. With that objective in mind, the then Sony executive, Yair Landau met with Marvel president, Ike Perlmutter to negotiate, but was met with a surprising counter offer: the rights to not only Spider-Man, but practically all of the other Marvel characters, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Black Panther. Marvel were ready to sell, all of what would later become the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), for just $25 million!
When Landau presented the offer to the rest of the Sony executives they all responded with a decisive no. Landau himself recalls how he was told, "nobody gives a shit about any of the other Marvel characters. Go back and do a deal for only Spider-Man", and so he did. Marvel agreed to give up the rights to Spider-Man including half of any earnings from related products for $10 million.
In 2002, Sony released the first instalment to its Spider-Man trilogy directed by Sam Raimi. The film did so well that Sony found itself very pleased with the decision they'd made a few years back. However, when they tried to reboot the franchise with a new storyline back in 2012, the result wasn't quite the same. The significantly less successful 'The Amazing Spider-Man' and its 2014 sequel resulted in Sony signing a new agreement with Marvel, which would see the latter company producing the films through its cinematic universe. The first film to come out of this agreement was last year's 'Spider-Man: Homecoming', one of the highest grossing films of 2017 worldwide!
Sony could never have dreamed, back in 1998, the popularity that characters like Iron Man, Captain America, and the Hulk would gain in the coming years, but we bet it hurts like a bitch thinking about what could have been, yet never was. Just imagine how different the MCU would've looked if it belonged to Sony.
Launching the New 'Spider-Man' universe
After losing its chance to continue its own Spider-Man franchise with Andrew Garfield in the leading role, Sony has been presented with a second (or rather, third) opportunity with yet another agreement with Marvel.
The sequel to 'Spider-Man: Homecoming', featuring Tom Holland as the superhero, doesn't hit cinemas until 2019, but before then we'll be treated to 'Venom'. The film will serve as the first 'Spider-Man' spin-off with Tom Hardy playing the anti-hero/villain. 'Venom' is set for UK release on 5th October 2018, just a few months before Miles Morales' introduction as Spider-Man in the animated film 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' on 14th December.
All of that is just the beginning however, for the studio has announced a number of other projects that are in the works. Sony plans on introducing other Spider-Man nemeses like Silver Sable, Black Cat and Morbius, although it's still not clear how such films would link into the MCU and Tom Holland's Spider-Man storylines. If these films perform well at the box-office upon their release, perhaps Sony's initial rejection of the MCU won't hurt as much.
