Even the most casual of comic book movie fans surely notice how there are several Marvel properties that exist away from each other on the big screen – the X-Men and the Fantastic Four inhabit one world, the Avengers in another, and Spider-Man is alllllll alone with no-one to play with.
Well, THAT’s now changed!
Yesterday, Marvel officially announced that their deal with Sony to incorporate the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe was go go go! According to their press release, Spider-Man will feature in an unnamed, upcoming Marvel film, but it looks as though that may be as far as Spider-Man will sling in Marvel town:
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 instalment 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.
That last sentence may well strike a ball of web into many a fan’s heart – Sony don;t exactly have the best reputation for dealing with Marvel’s characters, but there’s still THIS snippit of info to wag your tongues at:
Marvel and Sony Pictures are also exploring opportunities to integrate characters from the MCU into future Spider-Man films.
Walt Disney big cheese Bob Iger and Marvel Studios king Kevin Feige had nothing but kind and exciting words for this new chapter in superhero cinema, yet their words do much to suggest that Sony are only too keen to wipe their recent reboot of the cinematic Spider-Man under the carpet for no-one to see. Says Mr. Iger:
“Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s great characters, beloved around the world. We’re thrilled to work with Sony Pictures to bring the iconic web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opens up fantastic new opportunities for storytelling and franchise building.”
Naturally, this news will set fans off like fireworks, and right now, as this news piece is being typed, the internet must be swarming with all manners of reactions from those orgasming at the thought of Spider-Man going into battle alongside Iron Man and the Cap.
But there’s a deeper reaction to be found here, I think. The very fact that this news is causing such a ruckus is yet another example of our feverish obsessions with superhero cinema. It’d be interesting if similar news would have made the same impact if it were announced during the 1980’s, or even the 1960’s, back when superheroes were often forbade from zooming onto the big screen and forced to stay trapped in their comic book panels.
Probably half of Spider-Man, Iron Man and Cap fans in the modern world don’t think of them as comic book characters, they think of them as Indiana Joneses, as Terminators, as Luke Skywalkers. They see those characters as fully fledged cinematic heroes who are just as worthy as those other movie big boys.
The impact of Marvel’s characters on the big screen continues to delight and intrigue, and more of that is surely to come!
What are your thoughts on Spider-Man joining the MCU? Is he better off in Sony-land, and would the Avengers do better without him? Sound off in the comments or send us your thoughts on Twitter!
