Spider-Man can scale skyscrapers and crawl through tight spaces, but there’s one place fans never, ever expected him to be able to go: into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Sony and Marvel Studios announced Monday that they have struck a deal for the lovable webhead to appear in an upcoming Marvel production. In 2017, he’ll headline his own feature film to be co-produced by Marvel and recently ousted Sony head Amy Pascal.
This is massive news, and the first glimmer of hope that Marvel may one day get more of its characters back under its control.
When the comics publisher faced bankruptcy in the 1990s, it sold off film rights to many of its most popular superheroes. Fox got the X-Men, while Sony ended up with Spider-Man.
When Marvel finally began producing its own movies, it was left with what many thought were B-listers. The studio, however, quickly turned these “B-listers” into massive hits, including the “Iron Man,” “Thor” and “Captain America” series.
Meanwhile, superhero fans were cringing at what the other studios were doing with Marvel properties. (“X-Men: The Last Stand,” anyone?)
It appears last summer’s terrible “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” was the final straw for Sony. The studio is now crying “uncle” and is willing to share its rainmaking character with Marvel.
But when and how will Spider-Man show up? It’s going to be interesting to see, in part because Marvel Studios is so meticulous in its planning. It has its slate of movies (and the overarching story line that will run through many of them) worked out all the way through 2019. Adding a character as high-profile as Spidey might throw a monkey wrench into those carefully laid plans.
We’ll see. For now, here are five burning questions regarding the news.
When will Spider-Man first appear?
Marvel isn’t saying, but it only has two movies planned before 2017, when Spider-Man is supposedly set to make his solo debut: “Doctor Strange” and “Captain America: Civil War.”
Bet on the latter. Documents leaked by the Sony hackers suggested there were negotiations ongoing between Marvel and Sony to put him in “Civil War.”
What’s the story?
In the comics, “Civil War” was a massive crossover event involving nearly every character in the Marvel universe. After a superhero team accidentally destroys a city, the government calls for all spandex-wearers to reveal their identities and be registered in a national database.
Captain America, feeling the act is too far-reaching, rebels and goes underground with a group of like-minded heroes. Iron Man and others pledge allegiance to the government and are soon tasked with capturing Cap and his followers, setting up an epic clash.
Early rumors have suggested that the movie will generally follow the same story line, but on a reduced scale. We do know that Robert Downey Jr. is signed on as Iron Man.
As for Spider-Man, it’s unlikely he’ll make more than a cameo. In the comic book story, Spidey was pro-registration, and, in a shocking moment, was persuaded by Iron Man to reveal his identity to the world at a press conference. (That genie was quickly put back in the bottle after Peter Parker struck a deal with the devil that made everyone on Earth forget he was Spider-Man. Seriously.)
Don’t count on that happening in “Captain America: Civil War.” Marvel is hardly going to introduce a new hero only to have him reveal his identity, thereby upending future storylines.
Who will play Peter Parker/Spider-Man?
That sound you hear is every young, awkward actor in Hollywood calling his agent, begging for a meeting with Marvel: “Look at this bird-chest! I’d be perfect!”
A few weeks ago when the future of Spider-Man was still up in the air, Andrew Garfield was still the man behind the mask — at least in theory.
The Sony hack revealed, however, that Sony brass was unhappy with Garfield and the performance in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” and was considering axing him.
You can pretty much bet your bottom dollar that Marvel will go in a different direction, if for no other reason than that Marvel likes to stay true to its source material. In the comics, Peter Parker is a teenager. Garfield is now 31. Expect Marvel to cast someone younger and maybe less well-known. It’s also conceivable that Spider-Man will have such a small role in “Civil War” that he will never remove his mask, buying Marvel more time to cast someone before 2017.
What about his solo movie?
Will the film be part of a larger Marvel story line — say, a continuation of the “Civil War” — or will it stand on its own? We don’t know yet.
One thing you can probably bank on is that it will not be an origin story. Everyone knows who Spidey is at this point, and it would probably be a big mistake for Marvel to roll out yet another “Here’s how Peter Parker got bitten by a radioactive spider” movie — the third in 15 years.
So what about all those other Spidey projects?
Before Monday’s news, Sony had tentatively slated several Spider-Man projects, including multiple sequels to “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” (ha!) and an all-villain team-up called “The Sinister Six.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that “The Sinister Six” will still be released, but will be delayed from its November 2016 date.
Maybe, but with Marvel now in control, you’d have to think that any movie that doesn’t fit into its slate will never actually see the light of day. When would they release it? The schedule is already overcrowded with multiple superhero titles per year. And how would characters introduced in another movie by another studio fit into Marvel’s carefully curated universe?
That means “The Sinister Six” will probably be deep-sixed. Marvel will say all the right things about working closely with Sony and valuing the studio’s input, but with this news, it’s pretty clear: Marvel has won. Sony has failed, and is presumably willing to just sit back and let Marvel make movie magic while it collects its share of the profits.