By MATT GILBERT
A major announcement that many superhero fans and comic enthusiasts have been dreaming about for almost a decade has finally arrived. The famed web-slinger himself, Spider-Man is officially coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel made the announcement on the evening of Feb. 9.
Starting with 2008’s Iron Man, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has built itself with blockbuster hit after hit carefully spinning the most expansive extended universe in modern film history. And now Marvel studios will graciously be adding the crown jewel of their collection of costumed heroes to contend onscreen with the likes of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and more.
“I’m so excited,” Matt Trejos of Hawthorne said. “I’ve been wanting Spider-Man to join the MCU since The Avengers. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for all these characters.”
What Took So Long?
The fans have been clamoring for Marvel Studios to take back the rights for Spider-Man for years. However, Spider-Man has been legally owned by Sony since 1999. Most recently the studio had been doing its best to avoid joining the whirlwind of MCU films with their own Spider-Man reboot following director Sam Raimi’s’s trilogy starring Tobey Maguire with 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. The sequel, which released last May, was set to kick off Sony’s own expanded universe including individual movies for the Sinister Six, an Avengers-esque team of super-villains, and fan-favorite villain, Venom.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a dismal box office failure, making a disappointing $200 million, 23 percent less than the The Amazing Spider-Man made in 2012 and 40 percent less than the universally panned Spider-Man 3 in 2007. After the movie was deemed a failure, the future of the web-slinger seemed unsure. However, after Marvel Studios announced Captain America: Civil War last October, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before Spidey joined his brothers in spandex, as the comic book story line features Spider-Man in a crucial role.
What It Means
Marvel has not taken complete ownership of Spider-Man. More accurately, the wall-crawler is to be shared by Sony and Marvel. Sony will finance, distribute and have final artistic control over Spider-Man’s story line. This new deal will allow Marvel to aid in publicizing and marketing Sony’s Spider-Man films, which have been having a hard time selling to mainstream audiences, while they get the use of their character in the expanded universe.
What’s certain now is that the Amazing series starring Andrew Garfield has ended without even really beginning. The 2017 standalone film is to be a brand new imagining of Spider-Man’s persona, making him fit into the organic and refined universe that’s successfully grown a brand of its own.
Moving Forward
Almost immediately after the big announcement, journalists and Spider-Man enthusiasts began discussing and speculating everything about the future of the masked web-slinger. Curiosity is running high as the Internet begins to dream and speculate over everything from who will be taking up the Spider-suit now to what villains he’ll be facing and how he’ll fit into the already established world with its own costumed characters.
Sony has said they are looking at both 23 year-old Logan Lerman (Fury) and Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf) to lead the new film. Dotted lines are far from being signed, and audiences will have to wait a long time to see Spider-Man in action again. The announcement has also caused a delay on four of Marvel’s previously-announced projects to make way for the new film.
Spider-Man’s addition to the MCU has been coming for a long time and makes a lot of Marvel fans overjoyed to see finally happen. The deal between Marvel Studios and Sony is an enormous game-changer for both studios, and is sure to have untold effects on the story leading up to 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. If one thing’s for sure, it’s that Marvel’s most famous hero is finally where he belongs and is in good hands.
Audio: Listen to an opinion on the new Spider-Man deal
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