Before the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, there was a lot of anxiety among Marve𒊎l fans about whether or not Spider-Man would be allowed to join the MCU. Sony, which has held film rights to Spider-Man from Marvel since 1998 (a $7 million deal, one of the most profitable licensing agreements ever), had not always intended to combine its Tom Holland trilogy with the MCU canon, and the very idea that Spider-Man wouldn’t get to pal around with Tony Stark made fans furious. As we all know, Disney and Sony were able to work out an agreement to include Spider-Man in the MCU while keeping all the Spider spin-offs like Venom and Morbius out of it, a move that is still considered controversial in some fan circles.
Sony has had mixed success with its Spider spin-offs, and in all likelihood future installments like Krave൲n, El Muerto, Silk, and the ten other live-action projects currently in development will all be varying degrees of terrible. It’s easy to see why people would prefer that Disney just handled all of the superhero movies, given its track record of hit movies in the MCU. While iꦗt might seem like the Marvel universe is better off in Disney’s hands, the overwhelming success of Across the Spider-Verse proves otherwise. The creativity and the artistry that make the Spider-Verse movies so special tell you everything you need to know about why media consolidation is bad news for everyone.
Disney would never have made a movie like Across the Spide🦩r-Verse. None of what makes the Spider-Verse good fits with Disney’s 𓂃brand. The experimental style, the humor, the political commentary, and the complex themes would have been squashed down into a lowest common denominator, easy-to-digest, family-friendly package. I love many Disney animated movies, including some modern ones, but Disney movies are Disney movies, and the Spider-Verse is something completely different.
The expansive canon of the MCU was so much fun to watch as it unfolded because nothing like it had ever been done before, but that doesn’t mean it should swallow up every character it possibly can. People celebrated the 20th Century Fox acquisition because it meant that the X-Men and Fantastic Four would be brought into the fold, but that’s a double-edged sword. We’ll get MCU-quality movies (a designation that’s losing value with each passing year) with X-Men and Fantastic Four characters, but that’s all we’ll get from them. There is no Spider-Verse equivalꦍent for the X-Men now that those chaꦬracters are trapped in the House of Mouse.
This obviously goes for gaming as well. Those rooting for Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard are championing a future where all games are made by the same two or three big companies. Not only does this leave developers with fewer options for where to work and less negotiating power to argue for fair wages, but it limits the creative potential of games by putting all the decision making power in just a few hands. If we care about diversity, originality, and creativity, we should want as many people and companies ma♓king art as possible. Sometimes you’ll get a Morbius, but sometimes you’ll get a Spider-Verse.