Leaked Emails: Sony and Marvel Studios Almost Partnered on Spider-Man

The possibility that Spider-Man would finally come home to Marvel Studios that we had been hearing about a few months ago? Totally real. According to leaked emails and The Wall Street Journal, there were "extensive" talks between Sony Pictures and Walt Disney (including Disney CEO Bob Iger) about the two studios partnering on a new trilogy of Spider-Man movies and getting the character into Captain America: Civil War.

In an Oct. 30 e-mail, Sony Pictures president Doug Belgrad tells Ms. Pascal about a potential scenario that would see Marvel produce a new trilogy of Spider-Man movies while Sony retains “creative control, marketing and distribution.”

In a separate e-mail, Ms. Pascal tells a business partner that Marvel wanted to include Spider-Man in its planned third “Captain America” movie.

Talks unfortunately broke down, and Sony now plans to move ahead with its own Spider-Man megafranchise.

For Iger to get involved in talks too, this process appears to have been much farther along than anyone realized. It must have been almost at the finish line before things fell apart. I'd have to imagine Disney and Marvel Studios weren't fond of the idea of allowing Sony to retain "creative control, marketing and distribution" over the Spider-Man movies Marvel would be producing.

The Journal also reports that The Lego Movie and Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are producing an animated Spider-Man comedy series. That duo is quite busy, also working on several The Lego Movie sequels and spinoffs for Warner Bros. and a Jump Street/Men in Black crossover for Sony.