Confirmation: Spider-Man Now A Part Of The Marvel Cinematic Universe + My Thoughts On The Matter

So, every now and then, when I can’t quite go to sleep, I do a quick, routine check of social media, just to make absolute certain I’m not missing anything. Y’know, put my mind at ease. Well, last night was one of those nights. And what did I find? THIS:

And I Quote…

“Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios announced today that Sony is bringing Marvel into the amazing world of Spider-Man.  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 installment 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. Marvel and Sony Pictures are also exploring opportunities to integrate characters from the MCU into future Spider-Man films. The new relationship follows a decade of speculation among fans about whether Spider-Man – who has always been an integral and important part of the larger Marvel Universe in the comic books – could become part of the Marvel Universe on the big screen. Spider-Man has more than 50 years of history in Marvel’s world, and with this deal, fans will be able to experience Spider-Man taking his rightful place among other Super Heroes in the MCU.”

…YEAH. So, Spidey’s apparently coming home to Marvel and will be playing a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, obviously, with a decision as big as this, there’s going to be more than a few questions. Namely, can this partnership stand the test of time? Can both companies keep their egos in check to make this as great as they can? Who will be playing Spider-Man? Will Spider-Man even be Peter Parker, or will it be one of his replacements, like Miguel O’Hara or Miles Morales? What does this mean for the other Marvel movies? Well, right now, it’s looking like Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Inhumans will all be pushed back a little, with Inhumans actually marking the end of Phase 3, but all things considered, that’s not so bad in the long run.

As for the lead role…well, here’s my personal reaction to the suggestion that Andrew Garfield won’t be Spider-Man anymore:

Seriously, unless they find a truly superb replacement, or want to go a different route than Peter Parker, I’d stick with Garfield. He knows what he’s doing, he knows the character, and while I get that this is a reboot, we don’t need to change EVERYTHING all over again for the second time in this movie franchise. Speaking of, I would avoid having the new movie be yet another origin movie. We KNOW the character’s origins. We’ve seen movies that tell the origin twice now. We don’t need three in fifteen years. And finally, and this is admittedly a long shot, but if Marvel Studios could re-cast J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, that’d be GREAT.

Yeah, I know, long shot. Anyway, leave your thoughts and feelings on this matter below, and we’ll see how things develop from now until 2017. Ja né!