Phew. Marvel Studios' SDCC 2019 Hall H panel will go down in history as one of the biggest reveals of all time, although one hero was missing: Spider-Man. Just weeks after Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped some major bombshells about the webhead's future, some fans may be surprised, but it was really only to be expected.

Marvel's SDCC panel brought us news about the upcoming Phase 4 slate of movies and Disney+ TV series, as well as some surprises such as Mahershala Ali's casting as Blade and the development of a Fantastic Four movie. Release dates were confirmed, castings unveiled and a whole load of snazzy logos on display. Peter Parker would be forgiven for feeling a little left out.

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The reason Spider-Man didn't feature at SDCC 2019 is quite simple: he's not owned by Marvel Studios. Spidey may appear in Avengers films and have solo movies produced by Marvel, but he remains licensed to Sony. Under the current deal between the two companies, Sony handles the distribution and marketing, which reveals such as those at Comic-Con fall under. Marvel were in no position to unveil Spidey news. Beyond that, with the film only in theaters for a couple of weeks, there's surely a reluctance so immediately swing into the future.

Spider-Man Mysterio and Green Goblin in Far From Home

The expectation is that Spider-Man will next appear in a third solo outing that continues on from the unexpected identity reveal by J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home's post-credits scene. That would be the final film on Tom Holland's original contract and the original Marvel/Sony deal, although it's expected all parties will negotiate to continue. Based on the current rate of Spidey films, it's been heavily predicted the MCU's Spider-Man 3 will release in July 2021, within the timeframe of Marvel's Phase 4 announcement.

That may very well still happen, as Marvel has a sizeable gap between Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in May and Thor: Love and Thunder in November of 2021, in which Sony could slot a release. But, again, this all comes down to who is doing the announcing and the longer-term plan at play; Sony has a broad say with Peter Parker, and it'll come from them.

Interestingly, Spider-Man: Far From Home was announced before Homecoming even released, so the word on Spider-Man 3 is certainly later than expected. But, with the current movie on track to pass $1 billion worldwide, that means we can expect to hear something from Sony sooner rather than later.

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