Marvel Cinematic Universe: Bringing Spidey in from the Cold

If you haven’t heard, Marvel has struck a deal with Sony Pictures to use Spider-Man/Peter Parker for their in-house movies.  From what I can tell, the long and short of it boils down to the following.  1) Spider-Man (rebooted once again) will appear in a Marvel Avengers-verse film; smart money seems to be on Captain America:  Civil War.  2) Sony will continue to put out Spider-Man movies, co-produced by Marvel.  3) Other property-sharing could potentially occur – Spidey in other Marvel movies, of course, and maybe Marvel characters (ie, Cap, Iron Man, and the like) showing up in Sony’s Spider-Man films.

As it stands, I’m of at least two minds about this.  I love Marvel’s cinematic universe to bits, and I’ve been a Spider-Man fan since I was a wee lass.  Undoubtedly, two great tastes that taste great together!  The stuff I’ve heard about the Cap-Spidey interactions in the original Civil War story is what has me most interested in that film, and anyway, that storyline will be better if there’s a superhero around who actually has a secret idea.  More generally, I think it’d be awesome to see Spidey working with other heroes in a live-action franchise.  The Avengers have such an interesting mix of personalities anyway, and bringing in a smart-alecky teenage science nerd could lead to so much fun.  I’m beyond excited about the prospect of having Spider-Man in these movies; he’s one of Marvel’s biggest comic-book characters for a reason.

However, this scenario could also result in some serious Wolverine Syndrome, whereby one popular character starts monopolizing all the screentime in an ensemble franchise.  I mean, I like Wolverine, and Hugh Jackman does a great job with the role, but there are oodles of X-Men, and it’s frustrating to see interesting characters relegated to glorified cameos in order to get yet more Wolverine.  The Avengers franchise is already a bit crowded and becoming more so all the time, and it’d be easy for Spider-Man to edge out his fellow heroes.  I love Spidey, but I also love Thor and Cap and Iron Man.  Plus, when characters like Black Widow and Bruce/Hulk don’t have their own solo movies, they’d be even more susceptible to getting their screentime eaten, and I don’t want to resent Spider-Man for denying me anyone else.  (Already, making room for the co-produced Marvel/Sony Spider-Man solo film has pushed back the releases for the third Thor movie and the debut pictures for Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and The Inhumans.  Black Panther and Captain Marvel in particular are long overdue as it is.  You’ve got a lot of plates spinning, Marvel – be careful.)

And finally, I’m kind of crushed that we’ll be getting yet another Spider-Man reboot.  The Amazing Spider-Man films are enjoyable but middling, and they make a number of missteps, but they absolutely succeed in Andrew Garfield’s Spidey/Peter.  Skeptical as I was that we’d needed a new Spider-Man so soon after the Tobey Maguire trilogy, Garfield just fell effortlessly into the role for me, in a way that Maguire never quite managed.  He, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy (though she’s already been fridged – stupid canon,) and Dane DeHaan’s Harry Osborn consistently deliver and make those movies worth any implausibilities or blunders, and I hate that this excellent casting is being thrown out with the bathwater of the underperforming Amazing Spider-Man franchise.  How much would I have loved to see Garfield’s Spidey talking genetics with Bruce or being snarky with Tony?  It’s Marvel, so I’ll put faith in whoever they pick to take up the web-slinger mantle, but in my opinion, they’re missing out on a great opportunity.  So long, Amazing Spider-Man – we hardly knew ye.