Question About The Sony Deal

[Celgress]

What exactly does the Sony deal cover? Does it cover characters and concepts that existed when the deal was inked, or does it cover other media versions of every Spidey-related character new and old in perpetuity? For example, could Sony use the Jackpot variant of MJ but put her with Peter if they want in a future game or movie, or would Marvel have the exclusive say? I know Sony has produced material including Miles and Spider-Gwen as well as concepts such as the Spider-Verse but I'm unsure if those existed before or after the deal was inked between Marvel and Sony.

[CaptainUniverse]

What exactly does the Sony deal cover? Does it cover characters and concepts that existed when the deal was inked, or does it cover other media versions of every Spidey-related character new and old in perpetuity? For example, could Sony use the Jackpot variant of MJ but put her with Peter if they want in a future game or movie, or would Marvel have the exclusive say? I know Sony has produced material including Miles and Spider-Gwen as well as concepts such as the Spider-Verse but I'm unsure if those existed before or after the deal was inked between Marvel and Sony.

It would be Sony who has the exclusive say. From what I've heard they get the movie rights to every Spidey character that Marvel creates while Marvel themselves have to ask for permission. Although I think there is a gray area with Kingpin.

[Kevinroc]

It would be Sony who has the exclusive say. From what I've heard they get the movie rights to every Spidey character that Marvel creates while Marvel themselves have to ask for permission. Although I think there is a gray area with Kingpin.

Marvel Studios can only use Kingpin alongside a major Daredevil character (which is how Echo is classified since she made her debut in Daredevil).

[Kevinroc]

What exactly does the Sony deal cover? Does it cover characters and concepts that existed when the deal was inked, or does it cover other media versions of every Spidey-related character new and old in perpetuity? For example, could Sony use the Jackpot variant of MJ but put her with Peter if they want in a future game or movie, or would Marvel have the exclusive say? I know Sony has produced material including Miles and Spider-Gwen as well as concepts such as the Spider-Verse but I'm unsure if those existed before or after the deal was inked between Marvel and Sony.

Sony gets the rights to every Spider or Spider-adjacent character created after the deal. So characters like Miles, Spider-Gwen, Knull, etc. fall under Sony's control in regards to the film rights of a certain length even though they were created after the deal..

[Mercwmouth12]

Sony gets the rights to every Spider or Spider-adjacent character created after the deal. So characters like Miles, Spider-Gwen, Knull, etc. fall under Sony's control in regards to the film rights of a certain length even though they were created after the deal..

Spider-man can't show up in any marvel tv show or animated film that's over 45 min long

[Kevinroc]

Spider-man can't show up in any marvel tv show or animated film that's over 45 min long

Yes, certain things were renegotiated, which led to Marvel reclaiming the rights to Spider-Man in productions under 45 minutes. This is why Spectacular was cancelled.

[Celgress]

Thanks, everyone, I was chatting with a friend offline and she suggested it would be hilarious if the whole Jackpot-MJ thing someday backfires on Marvel because Sony produces something that features Jackpot-MJxPeter Spider-Man. I told her I didn't think such a thing was possible because Jackpot-MJ is a recent creation, I was wrong lol.

[Tofali]

Sony gets the rights to every Spider or Spider-adjacent character created after the deal. So characters like Miles, Spider-Gwen, Knull, etc. fall under Sony's control in regards to the film rights of a certain length even though they were created after the deal..

what does all rights entails here? does it include film, tv, live, and animation bc I know Disney has full control of the games but I'm not clear on the others.

[Kevinroc]

what does all rights entails here? does it include film, tv, live, and animation bc I know Disney has full control of the games but I'm not clear on the others.

It's film rights (live-action and animated). They also have tv rights for shows that are a certain length (live-action and I'm assuming animation. Although Marvel has the rights for shows under a certain length of time). These rights are indefinite unless Sony doesn't release a film within a certain timeframe.

The video game rights are a separate deal, and obviously are not Sony exclusive since other companies have made games that feature Spider-Man and related characters (like Midnight Suns). My understanding of this deal is only Sony can make games that focus primarily on Spider-Man (and they have a separate but similar deal regarding the X-Men) for a certain length of time.

[Tofali]

It's film rights (live-action and animated). They also have tv rights for shows that are a certain length (live-action and I'm assuming animation. Although Marvel has the rights for shows under a certain length of time). These rights are indefinite unless Sony doesn't release a film within a certain timeframe.

The video game rights are a separate deal, and obviously are not Sony exclusive since other companies have made games that feature Spider-Man and related characters (like Midnight Suns). My understanding of this deal is only Sony can make games that focus primarily on Spider-Man (and they have a separate but similar deal regarding the X-Men) for a certain length of time.

Ah! interesting so they can do animated shows (except for spidey) I hope we see more animated than live action shows in the future.

[Kevinroc]

Ah! interesting so they can do animated shows (except for spidey) I hope we see more animated than live action shows in the future.

I've not seen the contracts (and I'm not a lawyer) so I may be wrong about some of this stuff, lol.

[Tofali]

I've not seen the contracts (and I'm not a lawyer) so I may be wrong about some of this stuff, lol.

got it lol

[ARkadelphia]

So we can potentially get a Paul Rabin: Action Star movie from Sony? Hey it can’t be worse than what I’ve heard about Morbius and Madame Web.

[bat39]

I have another question.

Is there anything in the deal that explicitly forbids Sony from having Peter Parker or Spider-Man appear in one of their non-MCU movies? Or even mentioning him?

Thinking about this after watching Madame Web, in which they go out of their way to avoid mentioning the term 'Spider-Man' (they just say 'spider-people') or even naming 'Peter'.

[Kevinroc]

I have another question.

Is there anything in the deal that explicitly forbids Sony from having Peter Parker or Spider-Man appear in one of their non-MCU movies? Or even mentioning him?

Thinking about this after watching Madame Web, in which they go out of their way to avoid mentioning the term 'Spider-Man' (they just say 'spider-people') or even naming 'Peter'.

No. The Spider-Verse movies that proudly use the Spider-Man name wouldn't be possible otherwise.

They just seem to have an agreement with Marvel that the Holland movies are the Spider-Man movies at the moment. But there's no legal issues actually stopping them from making another new live-action Spider-Man film with a completely different cast if they really wanted.