Despite rumours that Spider-Man: No Way Home would mark Tom Holland’s last banner outing as Peter Parker within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, producer Amy Pascal confirmed this would not be the case.

In a recent interview with Fandango, Pascal emphasised that “this is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel – [this is not] the last Spider-Man movie.” She continues, “we are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel. We’re thinking of this as three films, and now we’re going to go onto the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies.”

Reportedly however, Sony insiders state that despite good intentions, there are still no officials plans for another trilogy at this point in time. Now, not to dive back into the deep end of intellectual property law, but a quick recap of the whole Sony/Marvel custody battle over our favourite web-slinger: Sony has controlled the film rights to Spider-Man for a while, having made five films starring the Queens native between 2002 and 2014. In 2015, Sony and Marvel unveiled an exciting and unprecedented partnership which allowed Spider-Man to appear in the MCU, beginning with Captain America: Civil War, and would continue with a series of Marvel-produced Spider-Man films to be released by Sony. Still with us?

Here’s where things get a little more complicated. Not long after the release of Tom Holland’s second standalone Spider-Man film under the Marvel/Sony deal, Far From Home, the deal between the studios appeared to fall apart. Then in September 2019, Sony and Marvel revealed they had reached a new agreement, one which would allow Holland to wrap up his existing standalone trilogy (in which No Way Home would be the last of the three) and also appear in one more MCU film.

Pascal’s comments give fans hope that Sony and Marvel may re-negotiate and further expand their Spider-Man deal, hopefully with Holland still attached. After all, the ties between both studios’ universes keep growing more complex. Sony has its own universe of Marvel characters that are becoming increasingly entangled with Marvel’s MCU: Jared Leto’s Morbius is due next year, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson is set to star in a Kraven the Hunter film (yes, the same Taylor-Johnson who played the not-so-Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron – but let’s cross that bridge when we get to it). Then of course there’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, in which the post-credits scene sees Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock enter the MCU, and the fact that a bunch of non-MCU Marvel villains will soon be making their comeback in No Way Home. 

In short, there’s a lot to be excited about, and plenty of cause for optimism that Holland’s involvement will be long and prosperous… wait, that’s not it.

Anyway, Spider-Man: No Way Home releases in UK cinemas December 15th, and everywhere else December 17th. Check out the trailer here.