Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) are taking to social media to vent their frustration at news that Spider-Man will be taken over by Sony for future installments of the the franchise.
According to Deadline, Sony and Disney - which owns Marvel - had previously reached an agreement where Spider-Man would be allowed to appear in the MCU and in MCU movies, but his stand-alone movies would be financed and distributed by Sony. So far, these Sony productions have included Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, which starred Tom Holland.
With this deal reportedly crumbling, Marvel will no longer have any creative input into future Spider-Man movies - and Spider-Man will no longer appear as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And fans are predictably upset about it - not least because Marvel has publicly committed to increasing diversity and representation in its films.
Some, too, speculated on whether or not Holland's public statements about the possibility that Spider-Man could be queer contributed to his role coming under threat. After all, when Andrew Garfield claimed that he'd love to play a bisexual Spider-Man, he was promptly booted from the part.
"Andrew Garfield raises the possibility of a queer Spider-Man and gets fired... Tom Holland discusses the possibility of a queer Spider-Man and gets fired..." one fan wrote on Twitter.
They added: "I’m sensing a pattern."
Another tweeted: "Anyway now is the perfect time to sell the rights to Spider-Man films to me personally for 2 dollars so I can make trans queer Spider-Man."
Somewhere in the middle of what will likely become an ugly corporate tug-of-war, the fate of Holland's involvement in the franchise is yet to be determined - but fans are making it clear that they'd like him to continue in the part.
