“The one thing that he did that he didn’t second-guess was picking you. I don’t think Tony would’ve done what he did if he didn’t know that you were going to be here after he was gone.”
Yo, Happy. Say it louder for the kids in the back (Sony and Disney).
I tried for days to come up with a time my geek heart was broken as much as it was last week, and came up totally blank.
“Spider-Man’s MCU future in question after Disney-Sony deal hits standoff”
Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man is leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To say fans of the MCU are gutted would be an understatement. Though, I guess there’s a sliver of a glass half empty/glass half full argument to be had.
The half-sorta-full is that we’ve had 5 movies with this wonderful iteration of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, tooling around with the likes of Dr. Strange, Star-Lord, Captain America, and of course, Iron Man. That has been more than I could have ever dreamed for Spider-Man, after the disappointment that the previous live-action iterations have been for me.
We’ve also been given the understanding that there will be two more (non-MCU) Spider-Man films, with Tom as our favorite web-slinger.
The half-pretty-dang-empty side of things is fairly obvious. That 5 films worth of time was spent deliberately weaving Peter’s story into the very heart and soul of the MCU.
We all got to know this iteration of Peter/Spider-Man in this context, very much by design. He’s become most of what he is from these relationships (particularly with Tony).
Most importantly, in Far From Home, Tony quite literally passed the torch to the kid, in the form of E.D.I.T.H.
THE REACTION
Fan reactions have been alternating between anger at the two giant, money hungry corporations, and grief over losing the relationships Peter has built within the Avengers universe. The latter definitely lingers.
At the D23 Expo in Anaheim, Tom took a few opportunities to speak about this split. First, after a panel for next year’s “Onward” (which he voices alongside GOTG’s Chris Pratt):
“Listen, it’s been a crazy week, but thank you from the bottom of my heart and I love you 3000.”
Later on, he spoke with EW & People in a little more detail:
“It’s been five amazing years. I’ve had the time of my life. Who knows what the future holds? But all I know is that I’m going to continue playing Spider-Man and having the time of my life. It’s going to be so fun, however we choose to do it. The future for Spider-Man will be different, but it will be equally as awesome and amazing, and we’ll find new ways to make it even cooler.”
Tom has some fans in the form of his fellow Avengers. Many of them have been publicly lamenting the loss of the kid from Queens.
Jeremy Renner (“Hawkeye”) was the first Avenger to speak out:
“Guardians of the Galaxy” writer/director James Gunn was asked his thoughts by a fan on Instagram:
Good to see someone focusing on the positive, which is Tom as Spidey & writer/director Jon Watts (who isn’t officially signed on for future installments just yet).
Nebula herself, Karen Gillan, posted a more subtle tribute to happier times on twitter:
For a little bittersweet fun, Tom posted his own pics of a playful reunion with his former MCU mentor…which solicited a broken-hearted reaction from the Hulk in the comments:
WHAT NOW?
It won’t take being in the MCU for this Spider-Man to carry on from that cliffhanger, and I’m sure there are some great screenwriters out there up for the challenge. It will take some time to recover from the sting, but there will come a point when excitement will return.
In the meantime, if there is a silver lining (?), perhaps this leaves room for some Scott Lang love? We’ve passed SDCC & D23 Expo with their abundance of Disney+ announcements (that go well into 2022). However, zero announcements of a follow-up for Mr. Time-Heist himself.
I do believe I mentioned a riot if we don’t hear about Ant-Man soon. They’re headed your way, Feige. I don’t think you want to piss off the small-crawly-thing-based superhero fans any more than you already have. Your move:
Chasing Geekdom 
