The year is 2019, and The Great Spider-Crisis rages on. Despite an early report which suggested that Spider-Man would remain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as long as Far From Home made more than a billion dollars at the box office, and despite the fact that that movie did indeed cross that financial threshold, Disney and Sony could not come to an agreement on the future of the character. Translation: say goodbye to Tom Holland interacting with heroes like Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange on screen again, because he’s now relegated to Sony’s burgeoning cinematic universe, where Venom and Morbius are hanging out.

Unless…

In a new interview, director Jon Favreau, the filmmaker behind the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie and regular co-star of Holland’s Spider-Man films, hints that there may be a chance that the whole thing gets resolved and Spidey returns to the MCU after all. Read the full Jon Favreau Spider-Man comment below.

Favreau was a guest at Variety‘s Entertainment and Technology summit, where he spoke about The Mandalorian, the future of technology as it relates to the entertainment industry, and more. He also briefly touched on the rift between Disney/Marvel and Sony regarding Spider-Man, and said that it’s “not for lack of trying” that the issue hasn’t been resolved yet.

“I’ve been talking to everybody about it…I’m cautiously optimistic. I think it’s a long way away and I think the collaboration has been really strong up to this point so I’m hopeful that there’s a way for us all to play together going forward.”

When Favreau commented about the split at The D23 Expo a couple of weeks ago, he said, “We’ve all read rumors, we’ve all read press releases, but you never know what’s going to happen. I’m holding out hope and being optimistic that this isn’t the final chapter of that story between those characters.”

But the notion that he’s now actually spoken with at least some of the people involved in making these huge decisions makes his optimism seem like more than just wishful thinking on his part. Could we actually get a resolution here that brings Spider-Man back into the fold? His remark that a potential deal may be “a long way away” sounds right to me, because it’s not like Spider-Man was going to be a major part of any of the projects Marvel Studios has announced in its upcoming Phase 4. I know fans will be crossing their fingers that the situation evolves and a resolution is eventually reached, but even after hearing Favreau’s cautious optimism here, I won’t be holding my breath.

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