After years of speculation it’s official – Spider-Man is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It was announced this week that Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios struck a deal and Spider-Man will make his first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance in a Marvel film. Then Sony will release the next Spider-Man franchise film on July 28, 2017.
While the official Marvel film hasn’t been announced, many are thinking Spider-Man will appear in Captain America: Civil War alongside Captain America and Iron Man, since he was an integral part of the comic book story line.
The Sony Spider-Man film will be co-produced by Keven Fiege and his team at Marvel along with Amy Pascal (who recently announced her decision to step down as head of Sony Pictures amid the hacking scandal). Under the deal Sony will continue to own Spider-Man films in addition to financing, distributing, and having final creative control of the films.
It seems unlikely that Andrew Garfield will be starring as the web slinging super hero in the Sony Pictures film or the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. There is no word yet on who might fill the costume next.
“Spider-Man is one of Marvel’s great characters, beloved around the world,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger in a statement. “We’re thrilled to work with Sony Pictures to bring the iconic web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opens up fantastic new opportunities for storytelling and franchise building.”
The announcement of the new films has changed the Marvel film slate too. Thor: Ragnarok was to be released on July 28, 2017 but has been pushed back to November 3, 2017. This means the Black Panther film will open July 6, 2018 which was supposed to be the release date for Captain Marvel which will now be released on November 2, 2018, moving the release of Inhumans back to July 12, 2019.
Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 1 will still be released in May 2018 and Part 2 arrives in May 2019.
Spider-Man has been part of the Marvel Universe in the comic books for more than 50 years.
