Sony would have turned down “The Avengers” when it bought “Spider-Man” in 1999

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal's podcast, The Journal (via CBM), former Sony junior business executive Yair Landau revealed that in the late 1990s, when Marvel was in bankruptcy, Sony had the chance to acquire all of the studio's heroes except those already owned by Fox at the time, but they declined. This decision would come to haunt Sony a few years later due to the popularization of heroes with the creation of the shared universe, which earned billions in the last decade.

The terms of the agreement

The deal would entitle the conglomerate to 25 Marvel films for $25 million and would include the Avengers. According to Landau, he would have heard the phrase: “No one gives a shit about anyone but Spider-Man.” And despite vehemently disagreeing with the statement, he followed orders. Ultimately, they ended up paying $10 million for Spider-Man, missing out on the chance to acquire the rights to the MCU. Had the deal been sealed in 1999, the possibility of superheroes not being the dominant force they ended up becoming through Marvel is high, despite the web-head's undeniable success.

Future releases

In June, Sony released two release dates for films not yet titled for November 8, 2024 and June 27, 2025. Rumors suggest that they are “Venom 3” and the next Spider-Man film, but nothing has been confirmed , although Tom Holland, who currently gives life to the superhero, has confirmed that he has already participated in meetings to discuss a new feature film: “I can't say much about it, but I can say that we have already had some meetings. We pressed pause on all of this because of the strike, but we had a lot of conversations. At this point, we are still in the first stages of negotiations”commented the actor.

_{Tom Holland as “Spider-Man (Photo: Reproduction/Twitter/@Sony)}

Regarding “Venom 3”, apart from the confirmation of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Juno Temple in the cast, no other information about the plot was released.

Featured Photo: Image from the film “The Avengers”. Reproduction/Twitter/@OBaconNerd