the web-slinger comes home
As people (including me) have been speculating for months, a press release from Marvel Entertainment yesterday made things official: Spider-Man will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Looks like it’s a collaborative arrangement, with Sony continuing to produce and finance the Spider-Man films, though in collaboration with Marvel Films, who will help to shape the creative direction of the franchise, and integrate it into the larger Marvel film universe, with opportunities for cross-over across studio boundaries. This is a big deal, and it looks like it gives all parties a bit of what they wanted.
Marvel has shifted it’s phase 3 release dates around a bit, presumably to allow for the next Spider-Man film to land in July 2017 (a spot formerly held by Thor: Ragnarok), though the talk is that the “new” Spider-Man (presumably re-cast) will first appear in an MCU film, potentially even the fast-approaching Captain America: Civil War. I expect that such an appearance wouldn’t be more than a cameo (I still like my suggestion from a little while back for a post-credit tag, but that’s my ego showing), but it would open the door.
I expect more details in coming days and weeks, but overall, I think this is good news; it’s time for Spider-Man, arguably Marvel’s biggest character, to come in from the cold, though I’m glad it’s taken a while, allowing other characters to develop first.
It’s an exciting time to be a comic fan.
