There’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and then there’s everything else. For everything that falls under the latter, Sony and Fox are trying to establish their own cinematic universes and keep a tight grip on their respective Marvel properties. Sony already has plans to build a universe around the new Amazing Spider-Man franchise by launching spinoff films, while Fox is creating a world around X-Men and Fantastic Four, with the possibility of the two merging into one universe.

With Sony already working on spinoffs, the studio will have to look into finding a new director after The Amazing Spider-Man 3, as it has been confirmed that director Marc Webb will leave the franchise after the trilogy. On the X-Men side of things, The Wolverine director James Mangold confirms that he will begin shooting the tentatively titled The Wolverine 2 after X-Men: Apocalypse. Hit the jump for more.

It came as a huge surprise to every Spider-Man fan when it was announced that there would be two more Amazing Spider-Man films to come out after the upcoming sequel. It became apparent that Sony was trying to establish a world that Marc Webb had created, and thus began the Sinister Six speculation. It made a lot of sense considering that two more films would be more than enough to set up that world and build up to one of the greatest threats that the webslinger has faced in his hero tenure.

But being signed on for The Amazing Spider-Man 4 film is all news to Andrew Garfield, who claims “I’m under contract for another one after this. As far as a fourth one”¦ that’s not anything to do with me.” Which is strange, because news of there being two more Spider-Man films being released in the future – the third is due out in 2016, with the fourth due out two years after – has been out for a while.

Disney has their Marvel Cinematic Universe, Fox has the X-Men Franchise, and Sony has Spider-Man. But the thing that Disney and Fox’s superhero franchises have that Sony doesn’t is a self contained universe or cohesive storyline (no matter how sloppy the X-Men chronology really is). Sony had rebooted the franchise completely, leaving Sam Raimi’s version unfinished. So in attempts to make sure that doesn’t happen again, the studio made plans to make films until at least The Amazing Spider-Man 4. It has been rumored that these films would build up to the webslinger facing off against the Sinister Six and that fourth film would not be a traditional webslinger film in a sense, instead turning its attention to other characters in Spider-Man lore.

Now we are seeing how that may work as plans for Spider-Man spinoff films have surfaced. According to The Wrap, Sony Pictures exec Amy Pascal told investors “We are going to access Marvel’s full world of Spider-Man characters, so be on the lookout for new heroes and villains.”

It’s not entirely surprising that the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con panel for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was just about that and not the forthcoming sequels that Sony had announcement a few months back. It is really hard to tell what the studio has planned for the iconic hero, but considering that The Amazing Spider-Man 3 opens in 2016 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 in 2018, there is more than enough time to plan and release bits of news. Releasing a trilogy has becoming more commonplace, but going forth with a quadrilogy is a rarity. Keeping the story fresh and the character interesting throughout four films is even more of a daunting task.

However, director Marc Webb feels up to the challenge. The director made a few comments at the San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend to talk about the sequels and how he intends to keep audiences interested in the Webslinger.

Ever since Sony announced that they were releasing The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 in the coming years, Shailene Woodley‘s role as Mary Jane was thrown into the rumor mill. In a matter of hours Woodley’s involvement went from being cut out of two and introduce her in 3, to her being cut out from the film entirely. Part of this reason is because Woodley is on contract to appear in an adaptation of the Divergent novel series, which is more than just one book, which also conflicts with her schedule.

It has been made clear that Mary Jane would not be a vital part of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to begin with, and that her biggest role would be in the sequel. Not too long after director Marc Webb made his announcement to streamline the Mary Jane character to focus on Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy’s relationship, EW Canada reports that Sarah Gadon (A Dangerous Mind, Cosmopolis) has reportedly signed on to appear in the film, which could possibly mean that Woodley’s replacement has been found.