Spider-Man returns home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

February 10, 2015 | 3

In case you missed the news today, Marvel unleashed one hell of an announcement – they finally reached an agreement with Sony Pictures (who own the rights to Spider-Man on the big screen) to bring Spider-Man into Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU).

This is a HUGE deal as Spidey is an integral cornerstone of the Marvel universe and because of rights and licensing, was previously denied featuring in Marvel’s massive roster of movies. Considering Spider-Man is an important Avengers member, and plays a huge part in the Civil War arc (which the next Captain America movie is based on) is a huge win for comic book and super hero movie fans.

Here’s the gist of the announcement:

• Kevin Feige (chief architect of the MCU) will collaborate with Sony on a new direction for everybody’s friendly neighbourhood web slinger
• The (new?) Spider-Man will make his first appearance in a Marvel (not Sony) film – my guess is that it’ll be Captain America 3: Civil War (May 2016)
• Sony’s next Spider-Man film will be released on 28 July 2017 and will be co-produced by Kevin Feige and the Marvel team (yay)
• Sony will still finance, distribute and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films
• Marvel and Sony are also exploring opportunities for MCU characters to appear in Sony Spider-Man films

To me, this sounds like Marvel and Sony have come into an agreement to bring Spider-Man home to the MCU while allowing Sony to maintain creative control, distribution and most importantly all the sweet box office receipts that future Spider-Man films will generate. It’s a win-win scenario and us fans will benefit the most.

This blog post is just a silly excuse for me to bust out my LEGO Avengers team and snap this photo! I can’t wait to see what Marvel will have in store for us now that Spidey is officially going to be part of the MCU. This should also (fingers crossed) mean that we’ll get Spider-Man in any upcoming movie-themed sets!

Now… if only they’re able to wrangle the Fantastic Four and X-Men…