It’s happening.
Marvel released a statement last night officially announcing the arrival of Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Everyone’s favorite webslinger will be crawling his way onto screens for, effectively, the third time in the past fifteen years.
Sony, who owns the character rights to Spidey, finally agreed on a deal to allow the character to appear alongside our Avengers. Rumors circulated late last year (part of the Sony hacking) that “talks” were going on, but it appeared they had fizzled out. While Marvel will be using him, Sony will still retain final creative control. Marvel’s Kevin Feige, who is basically responsible for the MCU we know and love today, will be working with Sony’s Amy Pascal (who recently announced she’d be stepping down) to navigate the creative path for this new Spider-Man’s integration.
His first appearance will be in another Marvel film, most likely Captain America: Civil War in 2016. Next, the third installment of the Amazing Spider-Man film franchise will now be co-produced by Feige and Pascal. However, it seems to read that the Amazing Spider-Man films will stay separate, won’t become MCU canon, and that Andrew Garfield will not be playing this new Peter Parker – if they stick with Peter Parker. They are in looks to find someone new, who will make his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a solo film then following.
I find it interesting that there will essentially be two separate Spider-Mans flying around New York City in two entirely separate canons. It’s like Hulk syndrome all over again. I was originally against the 2012 Spidey reboot, but Andrew Garfield’s character grew on me. As much as I loved Tobey Maguire, I think I was just being stubborn with nostalgia goggles. But … a third one? I honestly expected them to carry Garfield over and then explain his absence in some cheeky Marvel-ish way. He’s sort of established himself in the franchise at this point, and I think it’d have a lot more punch if it ended up being him. Who knows? Civil War hasn’t begun filming yet, and they could possibly pull a fast one revealing him after Avengers: Age of Ultron in a post-credits scene. I mean, who would they tap to play him? An unknown? Just seems odd to me, especially with Feige jumping on to Amazing Spider-Man 3‘s development. But then again, to combine both canons they would have to do some major retcon work on both franchises, which won’t happen. Bummer. But I guess it’s safer to assume that our new Peter Parker was not yet Spider-Man during the battle against Loki and the Chitauri. Too bad they couldn’t have figured this all out a few years ago, right?
Either way, we’re all pretty hyped about this. How could you not be? Fans of both Spider-Man and the MCU films have been begging for this for years! I trust their judgement, and I can’t wait to see how this turns out.
The next Amazing Spider-Man film is currently set to be released on July 28, 2017 – and as a result, the solo hero Marvel films (Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Inhumans) have all been pushed back from their originally announced dates. Thor takes over November 3, 2017 from Black Panther, who takes over July 6, 2018 from Captain Marvel, who takes November 2, 2018 from the Inhumans, who make their theatrical debut on July 12, 2019 after the second half of Avengers: Infinity War. No word yet on how or if this shift will affect film plots and character inclusion going forward.
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