Sony made a 'tragic mistake' removing Spider-Man from the MCU, says Joe Russo

The recent announcement that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has left the Marvel Cinematic Universe provoked a furious reaction from Marvel fans.

Having seen Holland as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, they believed that he was the rightful heir to Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man as the de-facto leader of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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Marvel directors Anthony and Joe Russo are clearly just as disappointed as fans at Holland’s departure. But while they expect Marvel to be just fine, Joe Russo has now predicted that Sony will eventually deem their decision to disintegrate their creative relationship with Marvel president Kevin Feige a “tragic mistake.”

“It was a tenuous, fraught union throughout the whole process. But, I will say, stepping back and trying to be objective as possible, that I think it’s a tragic mistake on Sony’s part to think that they can replicate Kevin’s penchant for telling incredible stories and the amazing success he has had over the years. I think it’s a big mistake.”

Anthony Russo also opened up to the Toronto Sun about just how difficult it was to get Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the first place, which is why the pair aren’t surprised that Sony and Disney’s deal has now come to an end.

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“It was so difficult to get him into Civil War. It was an extremely long and hard process. But we were driven to help make it happen. But Kevin Feige pulled it off, somehow. Disney and all the good people at Sony found a way to make it work and it lasted a few films.”

“We had a wonderful experience with that and I think audiences really appreciated that marriage. But we know how hard that marriage was to make in the first place, so the fact that the marriage fell apart isn’t really that surprising to me and Joe.”