The Spider-Man property is perhaps one of Marvel’s most contested characters when it comes to exclusivity rights. From Sony and Marvel’s long-running feud to the strange rights Activision had for a time, it’s unclear exactly who owns Spider-Man. This is further complicated by Marvel’s Spider-Man launching exclusively for PS4 back in 2018. With the recent announcement of Spider-Man’s introduction to Marvel’s Avengers as an exclusive character on PlayStation, many began to question exactly who has the video game rights to the beloved wall crawler.

It’s likely many assume that Spider-Man, including his games, are owned exclusively by Sony. Given that the studio acquired Insomniac in 2019, it would make sense if Sony had all the video game rights. However, this wouldn’t be accurate. Sony only possesses the movie rights for the character, even if Spidey makes an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Given that there has been no official mention of Spider-Man’s video game rights, exclusivity becomes difficult to discern.