"Spider-Man: Far From Home" has become the first Spider-Man film to cross a billion worldwide, and Sony is celebrating by making the smartest decision they probably can after success as monumental as this... by taking everyone's favorite wall-crawler away from Marvel, who they owe most of this success to.

Now, Sony owns the film rights to Spider-Man, and they can technically do whatever they want with their property. But Sony set themselves up for life with the original Disney-shared custody film deal back in February of 2015.

From the memorable introduction in "Captain America: Civil War", Disney made Spider-Man a premiere hero again almost overnight in the eyes of moviegoers. The last few Spider-Man films ("Homecoming", "Far From Home") have been doing extremely well under Marvel and its president Kevin Feige's creative oversight.

A "Spider-Man" film without the backing of the larger Marvel Universe and characters would likely see a substantial decrease in profits. Audiences have become invested with Spider-Man in the MCU as well as the relationships he's built with characters such as Tony Stark, Happy Hogan, Nick Fury (kinda), Captain America, Doctor Strange, and many others. Granted, Sony has been making Spider-Man films since 2002 with the first Sam Raimi directed blockbuster starring Tobey Maguire that set the stage for the onslaught of comic book movies today, MCU included.

But since 2007's "Spider-Man 3", Sony has been very uneven with the quality of their Spider-Man films that have hurt their track record and box office numbers. Meanwhile, then up-and-coming studio rival Marvel Studios managed to make obscure properties such as the Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man into household names with ease, while Sony struggled to make a standalone Spider-Man vs. Electro movie resonate with audiences.

If the recent "Far From Home" was any indication, Marvel was clearly setting up Spider-Man to be the new face of the MCU following his mentor Tony Stark's death. Spider-Man still remains Marvel's flagship character and Tom Holland (who is 23) is in the films as a high school student compared to his older, more seasoned superhero contemporaries. The less experienced and awkward nature of a younger Spidey gives Holland plenty of time to grow and come into his own, like the comic.

Sony does have an impressive set of Spider-Man supporting heroes and villains at their disposal for potential films such as Miles Morales, Black Cat, Silver Sable, Morbius the Living Vampire, and Kraven the Hunter, but when compared to the MCU, it all seems frail in comparison.

According to one of the most reputable online news sites, "Deadline Hollywood", Tom Holland and director Jon Watts are still wanted by Sony to return for at least two more films, with or without Disney onboard. Spider-Man is a character on his own that does not really need any supporting MCU superheroes to show up in every one of his films, but a Sony-led Spider-Man is no longer a guarantee to be as successful as a Marvel Studios-led Spider-Man film.

Superhero films have changed drastically since 2002. Just plucking Spidey from the MCU does no one any favors as it ruins Marvel's intricate continuity and has Sony trying to appease to the fans who will not be satisfied unless Spider-Man is chilling with The Avengers again.

It's honestly a miracle that a deal between two rival studios in this day and age has lasted as long as it has. Audiences and fans alike want to see their favorite superheroes sharing the screen with each other and seeing Spider-Man completely on his own again without any MCU connections after being a part of this shared universe for close to four years would be very jarring.

Time will tell if Disney and Sony can come back to the negotiating table; stranger things have happened. But, as of now, Marvel Studios may need to start putting out applications again for their new flagship hero.