Spider-Man is out of the MCU, but China wants Andrew Garfield back

That’s just one Chinese netizen’s response to reports that Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios may no longer be sharing Spider-Man, pushing the character out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as first reported by Deadline.

While some Marvel fans on Western social media are calling for a boycott of future Sony films, reactions in China have been more in Sony’s favor. 

Many in China are also sad to see the webslinger go, but others seem to be ready to embrace the change, and it’s not just because some want Shang-Chi to have a larger spotlight: Some Chinese Spidey fans are actually hoping for a return of Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, which starred Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. 

“Good news. The Amazing-Spider movies were really well done. But somehow the franchise friggin’ got cancelled,” one person commented online.

It may come as a shock, but many Chinese fans seem to love the Amazing Spider-Man films. While the first film has a respectable 72% on Rotten Tomatoes (not bad for a superhero movie), the sequel has a rotten score of 52%. The film was seen as such a commercial and critical failure that it helped push Sony into the deal with Marvel in the first place.