Earlier this week, Marvel and Sony announced that the prodigal son will return, and Spider-man will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like most comic book movie fans, I rejoiced when I saw that headline. However, the more I've read and thought about it, the more uneasy I have felt about the decision for two main reasons.
1.) Sony will still maintain creative control of Spider-man
While spidey will now exist within and interact with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and despite Kevin Feige working with them as a producer, all details on this deal seem to indicate that Sony will maintain final creative control over the character's solo and spin-off films (in addition to financing, producing, and distribution). This is the studio that is responsible for running Spider-man's movie franchis into the ground with Amazing Spider-man 2 in an attempt to rapidly world build towards spin-off films. Being that this re-boot will only be released a mere 3 years after the Amazing franchise, and with Sony's position that they still hope to spin off sinister six and venom, I don't see any real indication that Sony has learned their lesson. I feel like they only agreed to this deal because they were convinced that Spider-man's existince in the MCU would lead to a bump in ticket sales (which it probably will). Other than that, they seem to be plowing full speed ahead with their messy and ill concieved spin-off plans. It has been well documented that studio interferance on insisting the inclusion of "things fans want" can have a huge negative impact towards the final product of superhero movies (Spider-man 3, Wolverine Origins, Amazing Spider-man 2). I just hope that Sony has learned their lesson and let the people who know what they are doing take the helm.
2.) Spider-man's introduction causes a disruption to the MCU story-line.
When Marvel announced their entier Phase 3 line-up last fall, they showed major confidence. Not only did they announce their projects over the next 5 years, but they indicated that they had an overarching plan on how these films would relate to eachother and the overall Phase 3 narrative.
They also announced a hard confirmation that Black Panther would appear and play a large role in Civil War.
Now, it seems that Spider-man will be introduced in Civil War as well. Age of Ultron is too close to cast, costume design, film, and insert a new Spider-man. Ant-man takes place in San Francisco. Doctor Strange deals with mystic arts, which is far outside of Spider-man's wheelehouse. And Guardians 2 takes place in space.
With Civil War already having so many plot threads on its plate (Cap vs. Ironman conflict, the search for Bucky, Black Panther introduction), does it really need one more?
Additionally, with Spider-man's solo film spot placed at July 27th, 2017, this pushes back the release slate for many of the Phase 3 films. While I wouldn't have questioned as much if every film was pushed back a slot, Marvel maintained that the release dates for Infinity War parts 1 and 2 would not change. This disrupts what seemed like a natural flow set forth by their initial release schedule.
It seemed like Black Panther would be introduced in Civil War, developed in his own solo-movie, and then become a full fledged Avenger by Inifinty War part 1. Now, his solo film will be released between parts 1 and 2, which just seems far more out of place. Similarly, Captain Marvel and Inhumans were supposed to take place between parts 1 and 2. This seemed to make sense, with Infinitity War part 1 setting up a major cosmic conflict, Captain Marvel and Inhumans dealing with other aspects of the MCU cosmic universe (probably dealing with aspects set up in part 1), and then Inifinity War part 2 wrapping up that whole conflic with a big bang.
While Captain Marvel still sits in the same spot and can play that same role, Inhumans is now set to be released AFTER Infinity War part 2. With the inhumans already being introduced in Agents of SHIELD (5 years before the film property), and the Infinity War already being wrapped up (along with the founding Avengers actors contracts), will we really care about the Inhumans movie by that point?
So those are my issues with the behind the scenes aspects of Spider-man's inclusion into the MCU. All things considered, I will obviously be in the theater opening night for every one of these films.
What do you think? Is this deal a cash grab by Marvel and Sony? Will Spider-man's inclusion elevate the MCU to a whole new level? How did I do for my 2nd ever editorial?
Sound off in the comments.