Rumours abound throughout the internet as to why Sony and Disney have fallen out over Spider-Man, and now another Marvel property is being given the blame. A new report suggests that it is Disney's desire to focus on their newly acquired assets that has lead to the breakdown in talks between the two film making studios, and is the reason why ultimately Spider-Man will be leaving the MCU.

The reasoning is that due to Dark Phoenix being such a catastrophic box office flop, grossing a mere $252 million against a $200 million budget, as well as receiving a critical pasting, Disney decided that their efforts needed to be squarely aimed at bringing this franchise back to life, presumably with the intention of folding it into the wider Marvel cinematic universe down the line.

In any case, the report on the Sony vs Marvel situation has now brought to light an insider who claims that talks between the two once sharing, now warring studios have broken down as a result of this extra effort that is going to be required of Feige and Marvel Studios to bring the recently purchased properties into the fold. More specifically, Variety has reported that due to the hugely disappointing performance of Dark Phoenix at the box office, "one person familiar with Walt Disney Studios said co-chairman Alan Bergman insisted talks with Sony end." However, they have also cited another insider who disputes these claims.

Following the initial reports detailing the Marvel and Sony breakdown, the latter issued a statement that included the assertion that Marvel Studios and baseball cap wearing MCU mastermind, Kevin Feige, will be unimaginably busy focusing his attention on the newly acquired characters and franchises, which Disney now possess thanks to their purchasing of 21st Century Fox earlier this year. This, of course, includes the X-Men, and since their return to Marvel Feige has teased their integration into the MCU and stated that they will be 'quite different' when speaking with IGN at this year's San Diego Comic Con.

It certainly does sound like a lot of work.

With such a vast abundance of rumours and a wide variety of sources and anonymous insiders playing the blame game, it is near-impossible to know what, if any of it, is the truth. There have been various reports blaming Sony for being too close-fisted, others blaming Disney for being far too greedy and wanting a 50/50 split of the profits, with figures such as Kevin Smith and Stan Lee's daughter Joan giving their opinion on this very heated matter.

Whatever the truth may be, something all comic book and movie fans can surely agree on is that this news comes at a detriment to both a cinematic universe and a character that have been in the hearts and minds of fans everywhere. Whether anyone will get to the bottom of this, or whether the two studios will reconcile and leave all of this simply a bad memory, only time will tell. This story originated at Variety.