The comic-book world is confusing, especially now that movie studios are racing to bank on characters that were created over 50 years ago.
The Marvel Universe is one of the world’s most familiar, partly because of the huge success of its characters.
But what many don’t know is Marvel doesn’t have the rights to all of its characters. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and the Hulk are Marvel Studios’ big four, but a new deal with Sony will allow Spider-Man to finally be a part of the Marvel universe.
Sony has owned the rights to Spider-Man movies since Tobey Maguire suited up in the red and blue suit, meaning Sony had complete control over casting, writing, distributing and revenue. Much like Spider-Man, the X-Men and Fantastic Four movies are Marvel storylines, however 20th Century Fox owns the screen rights to Wolverine and Mr. Fantastic. Now, in light of fierce competition from Marvel, Fox is a little less reluctant to create a deal where its characters interact with Marvel’s characters.
The new Sony-Marvel deal will create countless possibilities for comic-book lovers, summer blockbuster and casual moviegoers. The first move is getting rid of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, and having (another) new actor play the role of Peter Parker (The Amazing Spider-Man) or Miles Morales (The Ultimate Spider-Man).
Before having his own movie, Spider-Man will be making an appearance in an MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) film. Comic book aficionados assume it will be the 2016 film, Captain America: Civil War. Prior to this deal, the idea of having Spider-Man and Captain America in the same movie was laughed at as near-impossible.
The collaboration amongst other Marvel super heroes doesn’t end there though. There’s a good chance Spider-Man will make an appearance in the 2018 and 2019 films, Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2.
Spidey’s new era will begin July 2017 with Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President, and Amy Pascal, former Chairperson of the Motion Pictures Group of Sony, reshaping the character to their liking. Feige is the mastermind behind the quirky group of heroes in the summer blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel’s interlocking storylines. This will be Pascal’s first producing project.
The fandom of Marvel super-heroes is massive, and as soon as news of the new deal emerged immediately rejoiced, imagining Spider-Man fighting off evil alongside Avenger buddies. The downsides of Spider-Man’s reboot is having to watch the original story again (sorry, Uncle Ben), and having a sixth Spidey movie in the past 15 years.
Spider-Man spin-offs like the Sinister Six will still be under sole possession of Sony, and the new deal will push back all of Marvel’s “Phase Three” movie releases.
Superhero movies are where the movie industry is headed for blockbusters- Marvel has 11 films planned to be released now through 2019, Warner Bros has 10 DC-inspired films planed to be released between 2016 and 2020 and Fox contributes another six films.
Spider-Man joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe hugely bumps up the popularity of all three dealing parties, but the biggest winners out of all are moviegoers.
Follow Mike Mendoza on Twitter: @MikeWheresIke