Spider-Man has been on the brain all day for geeks around the world following the landmark announcement last night that the character would be heading to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and be getting a new standalone film in 2017. More information has trickled out since last night, so I figured I'd round some of that up for the readers all in one convenient place.
First off: Marvel reportedly paid Sony Pictures $0 for the right to use ol' Web Head in the upcoming "Captain America: Civil War," "The Avengers" franchise, or any other movie. Variety is reporting that each studio will basically keep its own earnings at the box office, though Marvel stands to make a ton of cash from the merchandising (paging George Lucas, circa 1977...) of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. It seems that Sony knows it's in a position of needing Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios right now, much more than Feige, needs Spider-Man.
It was already pretty much confirmed that Andrew Garfield would no longer be playing Peter Parker, but the report also confirms that Sony is recasting Spider-Man as a younger high school student, which sounds like a good way to distinguish this version of the character from the rest of the Avengers. There's no official word on casting yet, but expect that announcement soon if the character is going to have any legitimate part in "Civil War," as he did in the comics...but he was an adult with a great deal to lose in that version, so it will be interesting to see how the character is spun (no spider-pun intended) in terms of the overall story arc.
And finally, one of the big questions that's evolved from all of this is: What about the other films in the "Spider-Man" universe Sony had on the docket? This is what Variety had to say: "The studio is still moving forward with the Spider-Man villain-centric 'Sinister Six,' and 'Venom' spinoff, as well as a film that features female characters in the 'Spider-Man' universe. 'The Amazing Spider-Man 3' has been cancelled. While Marvel's Feige is involved with Sony's new 'Spider-Man' films, he currently is not expected to be creatively involved with the spinoffs, sources say."
That officially confirms the concept of a film centered on the female characters in the Spider-verse, which up until now was nothing more than a rumor. Hopefully, that project is more than just the "Aunt May" idea that was floated out a few months back.
All of those projects sound good (beyond the Aunt May one) in theory, but without Feige producing those movies, who knows what they will be like? That really depends on how Sony is going to play this. The studio is in a position to make some big adjustments right now, and if they put, say, Phil Lord and Chris Miller in charge of the Spider-Man franchise in the same way that Zack Snyder is shepherding the DC characters, then fortunes could change for Sony. It's obvious that the characters work and people love these stories...right now, it's just about finding the right people who can make everything work the way it should.
Personally, I'm tired of the all this Spidey talk. I want to know when Marvel is going to produce the Quentin Tarantino "Silver Surfer" script that been floating around Tinsel Town since the late 90s? Somebody wake me when that happens. Otherwise, I'll be taking a nap until "Age of Ultron" hits screens in May.
