I’d like to say I always dreamed this day would happen, but honestly, I kinda thought it never would. And yet, here we are, with Spider-Man joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a new set of films. Never say never, huh?
Hey everyone, this is Henry, the host of Cape Crisis on the Laser Time podcast network, and if there’s one thing I’ve endlessly whined about, it’s that recent Spider-Man movies sucked, and that Peter Parker desperately needs to appear in the Avengers film world. In the same whiny breath, I’d also cynically say that’d never happen because Sony has an iron grip on the Spider-Man movie rights and doesn’t want to share a billion dollar franchise. That’s why I’m very happy to be wrong at this very moment, because Spider-Hyphen-Man will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe very soon.
As the press release says, a “new Spider-Man” will premiere in an MCU film, then on July 28, 2017, Spidey will appear in a brand new solo film co-produced by Sony and Marvel Studios. The big changes are a lot to unpack. First, it means that Spider-Man could appear in the MCU as early as Avengers: Age of Ultron – though Sony leaks earlier indicated the wallcrawler would be a central figure in Captain America: Civil War. Second, it means there may well be an all new person playing Spider-Man – Andrew Garfield was only signed on for one more Amazing film, plus this news seems to end the whole Sinister Six and Venom movie plans. And third, Marvel has delayed four of its Phase 3 films to make room for Spider-Man, moving every non-Avengers MCU film about six months later – Thor: Ragnarok is now November 3, 2017, Black Panther comes July 6, 2018, bumping Captain Marvel to November 2, 2018, which in turn pushed the Inhumans film to July 12, 2019. (Jesus, that’s a LOT of MCU, isn’t it?) Marvel believes in this Spidey film enough to change up billions worth of planned films.
Honestly, this was way overdue. Sony’s Spider-Man films were pioneers of the comic adaptation, but the company’s approach to solo hero films seemed quite limiting when compared to the intricate, ongoing adventures that the Avengers were having. Fiscally, each Spider-Man film made less than the last, and critically speaking, the last truly good one was Spider-Man 2. 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man 2 had some glorious moments of webbed action, but many, many more moments of complicated, inconsistent garbage that didn’t need to be there. The film tried to build a universe with no purpose, leading to something it wasn’t quite sure about. And after the writers quit and Amazing 3 got delayed, it looked like Sony had even less of a clue of what to do with Spider-Man.
As a Spider-Man fan, it was frustrating, but I’d somewhat resigned myself to it. Marvel signed away the Spider-Man rights long ago, and even if the movies floundered, I figured Sony would never let go such a lucrative franchise. (Incidentally, knowing the business side of the geeky entertainment you love usually makes things less fun.) I was part of an army of geeks who were certain Marvel Studios would do a better job with Spider-Man, if for no other reason than Peter Parker would be invigorated by hanging out with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. But I accepted another decade of junk like this:
AND YET, here we are, with Sony and Marvel working together to make nerdy dreams a reality, and maybe, just maybe make a blockbuster Spider-Man film that’s as spectacular as the character deserves. The “new Spider-Man” in the press release conjures a different actor and a reboot for the franchise, which, yes, just got rebooted 3 years ago. Hopefully it’ll be a softish relaunch that omits another hour of origin (I can’t stand to watch Uncle Ben die again). Just drop Spidey into the world of The Avengers, have him use his Spider Sense, and pretend that the Garfield-verse never, ever happened.
I wonder if we’ll ever know what was the deciding factor in making this deal. The increasingly shrinking box office receipts of Spidey movies? Those leaked Sony emails that let the public know this collaboration was even a possible? The fact that, outside of the PlayStation 4’s reveneue, Sony is in desperate need of the kind of cash Marvel films make? Was Marvel’s pitch just that good? We’ll likely never know, but the answers are nearly as intriguing as the many possibilities this opens up.
Now, Marvel Studios could go REALLY crazy and have the new Spider-Man be Miles Morales, maybe even cast Donald Glover in the ultimate role. It’s a situation I’d honestly love to see, because I really like Morales, and adore Donald Glover. For another thing, when a few people in my Facebook feed would blow-up over “BLACK SPIDER-MAN,” I’d know whose opinion to dismiss from then on. Still, I personally don’t see Miles appearing on film any time soon, as it’s sadly quite rare to see a person of color in the lead of virtually any tentpole film, and now that Marvel has Peter Parker back, I can’t see them switching to Miles immediately.
So, if it’s Peter Parker hanging in the MCU, that’s the best comic book news I’ve heard in a long time. Seeing the Avengers occupy the same shared universe is a thrill – I about lost my mind when I first saw Thor and Hulk fight in Whedon’s first super-assembly. Seeing those two established characters interact was the same childlike thrill I got seeing Spider-Man and Iron Man fight crime together in Marvel Team-Up. It was the thrill of a shared universe plastered over the big screen, and adding Spider-Man’s Manhattan to it makes it that much bigger, compounding the hype I feel at this very moment.
I’ve pretty consistently bought the Amazing Spider-Man comics since 1993, but for as great as his solo adventures were, I always saw him as the glue that tied together the whole Marvel Universe. Captain America may have come first, but it was Spider-Man who seemed at the center of Marvel for me, appearing in just about every single book at one time or another. Spider-Man showing up in issue #2 of any new series was code for “hey, this fresh face is cool, because Spider-Man hangs out with him.” The interconnected web of the MCU wasn’t necessarily feel incomplete before, but now that Spider-Man is involved, it feels like a massive piece of the puzzle has been filled in for fans. Now, if we could just get the X-Men and Fantastic Four to join in…
P.S. – I’m definitely going to talk even more about this on the next episode of Cape Crisis, so share your thoughts in the comments so we can read the best ones in an upcoming show. Until then, here are some Spider-Man/Avengers suggestions to read in the meantime…
CAPE CRISIS RECOMMENDS:
Well said, Hank – I look forward to this week’s Cape Crisis. It looks like the studios finally realized they should make their announcements before you guys record!
Great article. I’m super excited about this. For one it means more content in the MCU which is great, but just the thought of seeing Spidey with any of the MCU characters just makes me happy. I’d be ok with bringing back either of Sony’s Spider-Men just so he could show up in Civil War, be unmasked, and have some weight to the unmasking due to the prior films. The Amazing movies might be bad but that doesn’t mean the actors couldn’t do some great work with the help of Marvel. Looking forward to what’s coming.
Wow I thought I’d stopped reading articles on the internet, but when Heneryg writes about Spider-man joining the cinematic Avengers universe, I guess I could read a whole book!
Using Miles Morales as the modern Spider-Man, played by Donald Glover, is such an amazing idea!
I am excited for this Spidey news but it brings so much unpredictability to the movies such as: will he make an appearance in Avengers? Which MCU character will be in the Spider-Man movie, my guess is one of the street level heroes, and who will be Spider-Man? It will also be interesting to see how much Marvel gave up to secure the rights of Spidey.
Now there is an actual chance I might see the next spider man film. I feel this was more of an inevitability than you say Henry, just looking at how Marvel continuously is making grand slams while Spidy gets no theater love. Sony probably decided that its less risky to make a fair amount of money on a big success rather than gamble that their next movie will be any good.
This still feels so surreal.
I think they might use Garfield for the first appearance, and kill him off after the 2017 movie to make way for Miles. He could even be brought back as part of Infinity War (or die and come back as part of it). I would love to see Donald Glover as a University aged Miles.
Honestly though, I do feel like Andrew Garfield is a perfect casting for Dan Slott’s Spidey. He’s on the same level as RDJ as Stark, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki imo.
Bring back Tobey, or no sale! The only thing amazing about the last two movies is that they tried to portray a super – cool, handsome, well dressed skateboarder as a social outcast. An annoying stutter does not a good Peter Parker make.
Maguire sucked in the role, so no thank you. Besides, if he was such a good actor, why haven’t we seen even a speck from him in the last 10 years?
That, and he’d be way too old to play spiderman at this point. But mainly, he’s just not very good.
Lies! Why would you lie and spread misinformation to the impressionable young minds on this site? One only needs one masterpiece to be a master. For him, it was Pleasantville.
Counterpoint: Seabiscuit.
Also, apparently he starred in the great Gatsby a few years ago, but I bet you didn’t remember that. I sure didn’t.
Anyway, Maguire only knew how to look either extremely dopey, or cry like a sniveling boy, any other emotion he tried to convey felt out of place for him.
Hey, you know who look dopey when they cry? Human beings! Toby’s crying the realest, rawest emotions we can get out actors these days. Too real for some.
I haven’t seen Gatsby, so I couldn’t tell you. As for Seabiscuit, anyone can have an off day. Toby is Spider-Man as far as I care, and as DarthEnderX says, we need an adult Spider-Man. And we have one.
I think Toby is only too old if they were doing yet ANOTHER origin story.
Toby could still easily play the Spider-Man of the current 616 universe.
And frankly, I’d be okay with that. I hate highschooler Spider-man anyway.
They already confirmed that they’re throwing Peter back in high-school, so you’re out of luck there >>;
This news gives my soul a boner!
Me too. But my boner won’t go away! It’s very bothersome knocking into things with it. Thanks a lot Marvel.
When they announced this, I assumed that Marvel had the rights to make a Miles Morales Spider-Man film while Sony kept on going with Garfield and the “Amazing” films. Now I realise my dreams of that happening are gone BUT Fuck it!
My reactions to the news was like the Radioactive Man Movie episode of The Simpsons where Bart’s hat flies off. After what felt like years of the geek community badgering Sony to hand over the rights back to Marvel, we kinda got what we wanted! I just hope they keep some of the cast from Amazing because I really wanna see my current celeb crush, Felicity Jones play Black Cat.
#WelcomeHomeSpidey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ImCpNqbJw
I am excited about the deal but also incredibly hesitant about it as well. Having Spider-Man in other Marvel films is great but letting Sony have final creative control over the character seems like a really risky proposition in the long run. With the amount of times Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 were reshot, rescripted, and messed around with shows that they don’t exactly know what they’re doing with the character. Now have those same folks have some influence over what’s going on the MCU and I get really worried. Also saddened that Andrew Garfield is leaving, but then again, that dude’s probably happy as can be about getting off these movies considering how badly he got screwed on them.
I think this was a bad deal for Marvel. Sony still owns the character and has creative control. What benefit is this to Marvel? They should have left Sony alone to fuck it up so the rights could revert back to them.
Sony has creative control on paper, but it’s likely that the main decisions will be taken by Feige and Marvel. Considering the tight ship he has run so far, I don’t see them putting themselves in a position in which they wouldn’t be able to handle spidey the way they need to.
Besides, even if Sony co-owns the character for now, this still benefits Marvel a lot sales-wise, specially in the long term. Spiderman is their biggest comic book Icon, and having him reunite with the rest of the avengers will draw even bigger crowds to watch those movies, and even more nerds and followers will keep track of the universe in general now that Spiderman is in it.
Jessica Drew in Avengers 3 please?
This is definitely great news! Although I’m wondering how the terms of Sony and marvel’s partnership will work, and also, how long is it meant to last?
And on that note, if that deal has a time limit, what happens after? Do the rights for Spidey revert back to Sony? Or would they belong to marvel from then on?
I believe that Sony still retains all film rights to Spider-man. This is merely a join venture to allow this Spider-man to first appear in an MCU film, and the Sony will make a new film with the same character. Sony has final creative control over the casting of Spider-man, and control over their films.
And the Creative Control over the Spider-man solo film (or films) is what concerns me. Because this means that Sony has creative control over a part of the MCU.
I’m sure the PR version of this agreement is much more simple that what it really going on. I would assume that Marvel has put a lot of restrictions on Sony to allow them into the MCU. Marvel has spent a lot of money and time to create this universe and it has survived this long without Spider-man. I believe Sony came to Marvel asking for help and this the Marvel solution to get what they want, as well as helping Sony make Spider-man matter not only to the MCU, but to his solo films.
Yeah, upon learning more about the deal, this is likely the case. Which is a tad sad, because it means that Marvel’s probably not getting full creative control or ownership any time soon :/
Still, I wouldn’t be too worried though. Like you said in the last paragraph. Marvel wouldn’t have gone into this deal if they weren’t able to control at least the vital parts of whatever stories Sony could plan to tell next, in a way that would fit, make sense, or benefit the MCU.
Even if we don’t know the details of these deals, or the ownerships that both Sony and Fox has over the Marvel Characters. It’s clear to me that this is probably the best that Marve could hope for at this point. Because if even in the poor state that Sony was, still was able to retain so much, it means those deals really, REALLY benefited the film houses a ton.
Replace Thor with the web-head, add Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and a Wolverine stand-in (it can be an Inhuman called Volverine) and bring back J. K. Simmons as the news editor that wants them all off his damn city and you’ll have my attention.
Seriously though, it’s cool to finally look forward to NEW stories for Spiderman, as well as possibly Miles Morales. That being said, goblin or no-goblin, I hope that the new movie isn’t just another repeat of the last 5 Sony movies’ plot lines that somehow manages to be well received just because of it has the MCU seal of quality and plenty of one-liners (although it would be excusable for Spidey, but we’ve seen a lot of that already). Wasn’t Sony considering a Kraven’s Last Hunt-inspired movie? I hope we get something similar eventually.
…or just make a Spider-verse movie so I can see 60’s cartoon spidey on the MCU lol
Yes! I am hoping for Elston’s dream of just having Spidey swing by in the background during Avengers as a starting point. I would lose my mind if that happens.
This. This right here. I want. GO JOSS WHEDON GO
This makes me remember that interview with Avi Arad saying they didnt need Marvel because they had a lot of stories to tell with the spidey universe alone.
Do you think Spider-man will appear on Civil War and be unmasked ? would that be smart ? didnt they had to come up with some weird bullshit to undo that later in the comics ?
If they’re thinking long, long, LONGterm, why not have Pete bite the dust in Infinity Wars? Then towards the end of Part 2, have Miles don the Spider suit.
I’m blanking on who would potentially play Peter Parker. Is he younger, maybe just out of high school? Or is he established but been a street-level hero until now? Logan Lerman (the titular Percy Jackson) comes to mind.
He’s not that young anymore. He might have worked back when they casted Garfield for ASM. But unless they portrayed him as a college student, Lehrman would look too old.
Of course, in saying this fresh after watching fury, in which he plays a rookie who was still old enough to be enlisted, so maybe that’s why it doesn’t click with me right now.
First and foremost: I really hope Marvel made stipulations to keep Avi Arad’s hands off of this iteration of Spider-man.
Second: Please hire an actor in their early 20’s. It’s really odd to see a 30 year old playing a 17, dating a 22 year old playing a 17 year old.
Third: Fuck it all, just put Emma Stone in as Spider-Gwen. She’s the perfect Spider-man. Right age range, excellent comic timing, and would give you a leading female role instantly.
Ps- Please bring back J.K. Simmons
I’m hoping they skew younger with the casting. As much as I love the first two Raimi movies I’d much rather prefer more time with a high-school age Spider-Man.
I’m wagering they’ll take a similar path that they seem to be going with Cap: a solo trilogy with associated guest appearances followed by a passing of the torch to a legacy character.
That said, whichever Spider-Man they go with, why not cast The Grand Budapest Hotel’s Tony Revolori? He’s young enough for high school, coming off a critically acclaimed if not commercially massive success, and he’s proven he has at least some comedic chops?
If they bring Tobey back I would cry…..tears of joy, REDEMPTION!!!!
Finally, this has been along time coming for Spider-(dash)-Man, so happy!
Now just work on FOX and get my X-(dash)-Men back and all will be right in the world and we can forget about the dumb Inhumans Marvel’s trying to push on us.
That won’t be happening any time soon. Unlike Sony, FOX has been having great success with the X-Men franchise and seems unlikely that they’ll be willing to have any deals with Marvel in at least the next 5 years.
Found out that Spidey’s going to be hanging out with the Avengers, and that Resident Evil HD has set sales records for Capcom, making a REmake of 2 and 3 more likely. It’s been a hell of a day.
Oh yeah, and about Miles. I’m sure that he’s a fine character, but people aren’t hyped to see Tony Stark shooting the shit with Miles Morales, they want Peter Parker. It’s got nothing to do with him being black, so don’t deflect it to that. That would be like some weird kind of monkey paw wish (“You get to finally see Spider-Man having adventures with The Avengers on the big screen, but it’s not the ‘real’ Spider-Man”).
Also, I desperately want J.K. Simmons to come back as JJ. He was born for the role, and if I’ve heard correctly, he’d be willing to do it again.
Um, i would actually rather see miles in the next marvel movie then peter parker
All I want is to see Spidey swing by and the Daily Bugle in a wide shot in Avengers 2 somehow.
Please not another origin story or just have the cliff notes version over the opening credits.
I am really excited and I know this seems to go against the general internet opinion, but I want to see Peter Parker in the MCU. Miles Morales is fine, but Peter Parker should be where they start and if they want to do Morales later, fine.
Most people know who Peter is, so there another reason not to do an origin story and I do not want them to have Peter die in the first film and pass the torch or do the Ant Man thing of old Pym and I actually like the character of Scott Lang more than Pym, but I would rather the MCU Ant Man be Pym.
Makes me wonder what actually is gonna happen Age of Ultron. It has to set up Cap and Tony fighting, Black Panther AND Peter Parker so he can appear in Civil War
well this is fantatsic news, i bet henry and brett are thrilled, now hopefully they will do well and fox will do a deal too to get the X-men back
That seems less likely because the X-Men movies are already successful for Fox. Whereas the Spider-man movies were tanking for Sony.
Like everyone else I’m absolutely ecstatic about this deal and while at face value this may seem like a raw deal that Sony still gets creative control I think they have finally learnt their lesson and since now marvel has a stake in the character they can help Sony craft the image of Spider-Man fans want to see they would be foolish to not trust marvel on how to make a superhero franchise matter this deal isn’t perfect but its the best fans could of hoped for at this time and for the first time in years im so excited to see what awaits my favorite superhero on the big screen
This is surely great news and I do trust Marvel to make it seem like he isn’t simply shoe-horned into the universe, unlike Sony who attempted to shoe-horn a universe into a solo act.
Very excited about this news. But now the shock has worn off and I’m somewhat concerned about the control of the character, especially in regards to Sony having final creative control and that Kevin Feige won’t be involved in the solo Spider-man films.
Marvel will have this Spider-man start off in the MCU, and then Sony make his own solo film. I trust Marvel Studios, I DON’T trust Sony. I worry about Marvel opening the MCU gate to them and Sony getting inside and then making a mess of things.
I’m still on board the hype train and exciting about where it’s going. But during this whole trip I’m wondering “Who is driving this thing? Marvel or Sony”
I’m glad to see Spider-Man join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man is my favourite Marvel hero and I’m really anxious to see every Marvel character under the same roof once again.
I’m curious whether they’ll do yet another origin story, or will it just be like Edward Norton’s Incredible Hulk where the origin is basically shown through the opening credits. I’m hoping for the latter.
As for Spider-Man villains, I’d like to see more comic-accurate versions of the Green Goblin or Venom, or new to the big screen villains Mysterio or Carnage.