Back when the whole Sony hack debacle happened in December one of the most enticing tibits that came out of that very very terrible situation (never forget that peoples privacy and personal info was released and threatened to ruin lives thanks to that incident.) was the word that at one point Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios were talking about POSSIBLY getting Spidey to the MCU.
It was clear that after disappointing box office performance of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, that Sony’s major Spidey Cinematic Universe plans were falling apart. But even when the talks happen, Sony decided to stick with their plans and pull on through with out Marvel’s help.
Many (including me) thought this was a pretty big missed opportunity. For me, it was the only way get excitement for further big screen adventures with the Wall Crawler. I think it was safe to say that by 5 Spider-Man movies (reboot or not) might have created a bit of Spider-Man fatigue for movie going audiences. Having Spidey team up with the Avengers seemed like (to me) the only real way get people interested in the character again.
But, I pretty much figured that was as far as we were gonna get from the talks. This was to be a nice pipe dream.
Till today…
“Marvel’s Kevin Feige to Produce Next Installment of the Spider-Man Franchise with Amy Pascal
(Culver City, California, and Burbank, California February 09, 2015) – Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced today that Sony is bringing Marvel into the amazing world of Spider-Man.
Under the deal, the new Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU). Sony Pictures will thereafter release the next installment of its $4 billion Spider-Man franchise, on July 28, 2017, in a film that will be co-produced by Kevin Feige and his expert team at Marvel and Amy Pascal, who oversaw the franchise launch for the studio 13 years ago. Together, they will collaborate on a new creative direction for the web slinger. Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films.
Marvel and Sony Pictures are also exploring opportunities to integrate characters from the MCU into future Spider-Man films.”
Read the rest of the press release on Marvel’s official website right HERE.
So what does this mean now? Will we pick up from the last film? Is Andrew Garfield sadly no longer playing the character?
Everything is still so new, I don’t even think the damn ink on the contract was dry when they made this announcement.
Now, before we get too excited here, let’s keep in mind.
SONY will still have final say on the films that star Spider-Man. Who knows if this collaboration will work. We have two studio heads who have to now learn to get along and try to make a new unified project. It’s been well known that Marvel Studio movies are highly micromanaged, but thankfully their micromanagement has been making some great movies so far. Could these two studios get along?
I do think that we’re gonna loose Andrew Garfield, and that’s the biggest shame. He’s clearly the best man to have played the character on screen. There could still be a hope that he might survive, as I’ve read that Amy Pascal is a HUGE supporter of Garfield, but don’t be surprised if they want to start clean…again.
Man, a third reboot would be pretty rough.
So yes, this is pretty awesome news, but don’t celebrate quiet yet. It’s gonna be a long and tricky slope as both companies have to figure out the fate of Spider-Man on the big screen.
I just have ONE request.
Bring. Back. J.K. Simmons. As. J. Jonah Jameson!
http://youtu.be/IgL8h_u2PHw
UPDATED:
And now Marvel has a new release scheduled plan to include Spider-Man. Check it…..
May 6, 2016: Captain America: Civil War
November 4, 2016: Doctor Strange
May 5, 2017: Guardians of the Galaxy 2
July 28, 2017: Amazing Spider-Man 3
November 4, 2017: Thor: Ragnarok
July 6, 2018: Black Panther
November 2, 2018: Captain Marvel
July 12, 2019: Inhumans
Damn…that was fast guys.
So it’s a safe bet that we can now assume that Spider-Man might make an appearance in Captain America: Civil War.
Also, do note that they are calling it Amazing Spider-Man 3 right now. That could change, but is that a TINY hint that this is still part of the same series…I.E. they’re gonna keep Garfield? We’ll see.
Source: Marvel.com. and The Hollywood Reporter