Despite their public protestations to the contrary, it looks like Sony is working with licensing Spider-Man to Disney for use in Marvel's Captain America 3. Just not with Andrew Garfield in the spidey-suit.

The widely-rumored revelation comes from the email inbox of Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal, part of an unprecedented hack last month with new details continuing to leak out every day.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was not the domestic success Sony needed it to be. Emails obtained by Mashable show that Sony had agreed to shelve plans for a writing deal on Amazing Spider-Man 3 as of August 8, 2014.

Sony emails concerning Sinister Six and Amazing Spider-Man 3 deals.

Moreover, it appears that Garfield may be out as Spider-Man altogether. Garfield has been praised for his performance as Peter Parker, but his critical remarks that seemed to blame the studio for Amazing Spider-Man 2's tepid box office and critical reception may have annoyed the wrong people.

Garfield also stood up Sony at a corporate dinner in July. Garfield's attendance was going to be mentioned by Sony CEO Kaz Hirai and he was supposed to sit with some top Sony executives. His absence (with less than an hour of notice) was seen as an affront and slight by the company's Tokyo bosses.

As of October 2014, it looks like Garfield is out of the franchise for good. In an email to The Amazing Spider-Man franchise producer Matthew Tolmach, Pascal outlines some potential plans for introducing the new Peter Parker and Spider-Man characters in Captain America 3.

I love introducing pp [Peter Parker] in cap but I know it comes with so many things since we won't give them what they want what will we give them? We can say it's a cameo but I'll bet it's more and will involve some of his world and it will be peter and spidey right

Sony might license Spider-Man to Marvel

In an email memo to herself sent on Oct. 21, 2014, Pascal reflected on the current state of the Spider-Man franchise and outlined thoughts and questions related to how the Spider-Man character could appear in Captain America 3.

cap thre only: 2. if we have spiderman in cap 3. what is our fee and our back end. need script approval, casting approval of sm and aunt may and consultation of mays house in queens and any other spiderman locations we may need in future movies. also approval of new spiderman costume> how long is he is the movie? how closely does it follow the civil war story line? does the world find out who spiderman is? are there any other characters from the spiderman universe they are using? can we use one of the marvel characters in our future spiderman movies not produced by marvel.can we use cap to set up ss? can drew work with the russos to get this done? are we renting him out?

In the memo, Pascal also wanted to find out the status of Spider-Man merchandise and how that would be impacted from an appearance in Captain America 3.

current state of spiderman merchandise...where were they in 2007, 2011, 2012 and 2013, 2014....we need a base to measure this by? will it increase the value of not just spiderman but the other characters as well. can we put a value on this? what is the cap america merch? avengers? iron man? how can we put a box office value on allowing spiderman to be in cap? what is the good publicity worth to them and their movie and what is the opposite worth to us? can we put a box office value on putting spidey in their movie? not free.

Through the memo, Pascal expresses questions and concerns about how Sony can remain involved in the process.

how do we participate n the process. read the script. meet the russos. early cuts of the movie various approvals

Moving on to a standalone Spider-Man film, Pascal outlines some potential options on working on a film for a rebooted (again) franchise, using the actor cast in Captain America 3.

one time spiderman movie: have to commit to a release date in 2017 which means we need to be shooting in winter 2015-2016 we finance the movie entirely and approve budget we retain casting script director and budget approvals marvel isnthe producer of the movie only and disney gets the merchandising and they help us like they did but even more so we market and distribute the movie.....they have no approval of the marketing budget. they have consultation in marketing materials because they are really good bu they dont have a tie breaker

The questions about a Spider-Man standalone would include what to do with Sony's planned Sinister Six film, slated for release in November 2016, as well as what to do with the team of individuals already involved with the Spider-Man and Sinister Six projects at Sony.

would we have to dismantle ss? can drew goddard write the sm original? who would direct the sm movie? what do we do with matt tolmach and avi? they can not put spidey in future spiderman movies or team ups. we need to keep animation rights for a theatrical relaesse spiderman move to be directed by lord and miller we need to be able to make spiderman movies after this movie we need to be able to make the girl team up movie is it possible to put spidey in worlds without other characcters once we is with iron man and cap can we have him in cap and then 6 months later in ss comingle everything we have a right to co finance any movie that spiderman is in and get a production credit we get to make future movies with our characters and theirs in a collorative way but we dont need their approval marvel produces a bunch of spiderman movies for sony the way they do for disney....all spiderman dominent movie are financed snd marketed by us event though disney will have the mrech on eerything we can put the marvel and even disney logo on ours if we can put sony on theirs morale and publicity persception

This memo was drafted in October, nearly two months ago, which means that circumstances could have very much changed. Still, it's clear from this memo that Sony and Marvel have been in talks about licensing the Spider-Man character.