Tom Holland's Peter Parker to appear in the MCU had broken down. While both the studio and Holland pledged to continue with the character, Sony's Spidey would've been unable to reference any MCU happenings, and this no doubt would've created an array of plot holes and inconsistencies. Mercifully, the two sides have now come to an agreement and Spider-Man is set to swing back into the MCU with a third solo movie on July 16th, 2021.
Should this date stick, Holland's Spider-Man will be following in the wake of Batman's sizable shadow. After a bumpy road to production that saw Ben Affleck officially leave the role and Warner Bros. enter a period of widespread change, The Dark Knight Rises.
This sets up a tantalizing box office clash between Marvel and DC, and although the rivalry has eased into a more friendly affair thanks to James Gunn's double duty on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the prospect of these two cultural icons trading ticket sales blows is a fascinating one. Here's why Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 vs. The Batman will be the box office clash of 2021.
The Batman & Spider-Man 3 Release Very Close In Summer 2021
In many ways, the Batman vs. Spider-Man theatrical clash is actually a rematch from the summer of 2012, when Andrew Garfield's debut in Tobey Maguire era after a fourth Sam Raimi movie failed to materialize and casting a little-known actor in the lead role.
The 2012 bout between friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and Gotham's Dark Knight isn't the only time DC and Marvel have gone head-to-head by releasing movies within a month of each other. 2017's DC and Warner Bros., and the fact that the assembled clout of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman couldn't match up to a Marvel solo movie (even if it did also feature Hulk) is a source of embarrassment for the DCEU.
Marvel and DC generally seem to avoid direct conflict at the box office if at all possible. Examples of movies from each side of the divide releasing within a month of each other either ended up without a decisive winner (Avengers: Endgame). With Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 and The Batman, however, both characters have mainstream appeal and are urban vigilantes within their respective worlds, setting up what should be a fairly even scrap.
Did Batman Force Spider-Man Out Of His July 4th Weekend?
The Amazing Spider-Man, the Spider-Man franchise is well-suited to this family-friendly opening weekend.
However, Batman has been perched atop the gargoyles of the last weekend in June 2021 for some time, with the release date officially set way back in January this year. In line with the old adage of snoozing and losing being frequent bedfellows, Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 couldn't set a date until after the July release of Spider-Man: Far From Home, and then wasn't part of Marvel's Phase 4 SDCC announcement. Disney and Sony's inability to find common ground delayed things further and, eventually, a release date for Tom Holland's third Spidey film was announced in late September. Batman doesn't need much of an opening to topple an opponent, but give him a nine month head-start and the Dark Knight will steal your preferred release weekend.
It does seem likely that Disney pushed their 2021 Spider-Man offering back by a few weeks in order to avoid a more direct confrontation with The Batman. If the change in date had been a consequence of the Disney/Sony confusion, then the delay surely would've been a longer one, rather than merely a couple of weeks, and given the slick operation of the Marvel Studios machine, there's no question that Jon Watts couldn't turn in his next Spider-Man movie by Independence Day weekend if Disney asked.
It is possible, however, that the decision was not made because of Batman, but because of Pixar. The Disney animation studio are set to release a currently-untitled original film on July 18th, the weekend prior to The Batman. By moving Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 from its original release date to mid-July, Disney give themselves a little extra breathing room between promoting Pixar and Spidey - although it's still likely that Batman breathing down their necks was a contributing factor.
Who Will "Win" Between Batman & Spider-Man?
It's a strange twist of fate that back in 2012, The Dark Knight Rises was clear favorite, coming on the end of one of the most celebrated cinematic trilogies in recent history, while Spider-Man was the clear underdog. Rebooting and recovering after the much-maligned Spider-Man 3 that featured a botched Venom, a skin-crawling dance scene and an overload of villains, The Amazing Spider-Man had something to prove.
In 2021, the roles will be curiously reversed. Not only does Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 have the combined power of Disney and Sony behind it, the movie also comes as part of the incredibly successful MCU franchise and can incorporate characters and storylines from previous entries as it likes. The despair and joy that came with Tom Holland's brief exit from the Marvel movie fold will also aid in burgeoning demand for his third solo film. The situation couldn't be more different with The Batman. After Ben Affleck's turn as Bruce Wayne in two critically divisive movies, Matt Reeves' offering is a standalone piece, separate from the wider DCEU. And as with The Amazing Spider-Man before it, The Batman has work to do in of setting its title character back on the right path after a movie misstep.
As for which movie will gross highest in 2021, the outcome is far harder to predict than with Spider-Man and Batman's 2012 box office battle. Unless something drastic happens and the next four Marvel releases are deemed an insult to the visual arts, Spider-Man: Homecoming 3 will be a resounding financial success. Spider-Man: Far From Home banked in excess of $1 billion and there's no reason its follow-up can't do the same.
The Batman is more of an unknown quantity. The runaway success of Aquaman proves that criticism towards the DCEU hasn't driven audiences away and Batman's place in the cultural consciousness is virtually immortal. If George Clooney's nipples couldn't stop the character's cinematic career, Justice League certainly won't and The Batman is more than capable of hitting that coveted $1 billion mark. Incidentally, perhaps this is the very reason that the Marvel/DC rivalry has softened in recent times - demand for superhero movies is so high, both entities stand to make plenty of money even with such stiff competition.
