Sony considers parting ways with Spider-Man; Could Marvel swoop in?

At one point or another, every comic book fan has lamented that many of Marvel's biggest properties are scattered amongst numerous studios. While the publisher and Disney hold the rights to The Avengers and the vast majority of their funnybook heroes, Fox maintains control of the X-men and Sony has the popular Spider-Man franchise under their belt. But what if Sony were to sell off their rights to the webbed wallcrawler? Would Marvel/Disney swoop in to save the day?

That prospect may be unlikely, but it's not completely off the table, as Sony chief Kazuo Hirai informed Reuters and other outlets that they are considering a radical proposal from investor Daniel Loeb to publicly sell off 20% of their entertainment business. That would include letting go of Spider-Man and the Resident Evil series. The goal would be to raise capital for their electronics arm which continues to struggle against the likes of Apple and Samsung.

Hirai: “Third Point’s proposal involves the way we manage a core business of the Sony group and the direction of our management. So the Sony board will give it thorough consideration before replying to Mr Loeb."

This would obviously be a huge deal and would open up the possibility of Spider-Man swinging his way onto the Avengers.  There aren't many who would be able to match Disney dollar for dollar, so basically if they want Spidey back, they'll get him. This is something worth keeping an eye on. For now, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is still under Sony's watch, and hits theaters on May 2nd 2014.