Spidey Questions

With the news that Spidey will be swinging back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he belongs finally announced, we can all stop saying how smart this move is and start wondering what it means, both for our friendly neighborhood webslinger and the current occupants of the MCU. Yes, it means that some stories can now be told properly and should improve the quality of the Spider-Man movies going forward, but, considering the very brief press release about the news, I find myself left with just a ton of questions, some obvious, some not.

The Obvious Questions

1. Where will Spider-Man first make his appearance in the MCU? Avengers: Age of Ultron has likely already been shot. Ditto Ant-Man. We know he’ll have an appearance at some point before his solo film in July 2017, which leaves Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 as likely landing places. The smart bet is that we see him standing between Iron Man and Captain America in Civil War, as his character plays a prominent role in the comic, but I bet we get a glimpse of him sometime sooner. Maybe in a post-credits teaser after Ant-Man?
2. Is this going to be another reboot for Spider-Man? I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure how excited I’ll be to sit through the third retelling of the radioactive spider story in 15 years. Is there really anything left to tell about it? It seems like a waste of 45 minutes to me.
3. Who’s going to play him? Andrew Garfield was a competent fan-favorite, but bringing him along also brings the baggage of the putrid mess of the Amazing Spider-Man 2. Plus, we all know that Marvel likes to lock their actors down for the long run. I’d bet that we get an announcement of a new actor signed to a hefty, long-term contract shortly.

The Not-So-Obvious Questions

1. What does this mean for the schedule of the rest of the MCU? As it turns out, quite a lot. Before the deal, the plan was to have Thor battling Spider-Man for box office receipts, but Disney is smarter than that, so as a result we’re going to see everything else (except Avengers 3 & 4) pushed back. Got that? Here’s how things look now:
   • May  2015: Avengers: Age of Ultron
   • July 2015: Ant-Man
   • May 2016: Captain America: Civil War
   • November 2016: Doctor Strange
   • May 2017: Guardians of the Galaxy 2
   • July 2017: Spider-Man
   • November 2017: Thor: Ragnarok
   • May 2018: Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet, Pt. 1
   • July 2018: Black Panther
   • November 2018: Captain Marvel
   • May  2019: Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet, Pt. 2
   • July 2019: Inhumans
2. What story is the Spiderman film going to cover? Think about the timeline with me here. If the webcrawler is introduced and plays a prominent role in Civil War there are going to be some rather significant consequences for his character. Just being in Civil War makes it unlikely that we’ll see the origin story (unless they decide to make most of the film a flashback, which would be weird), but it also means that his secret identity will be common knowledge, since his unmasking is one of the iconic scenes of the Civil War storyline. So, with that in mind, what story will we see when Spider-Man finally gets his own solo film in 2017? Whatever the answer, it’s sure to be different than anything audiences have seen before.
3. Who’s next? Spiderman is only the most recent character to find his way back home to Marvel. Though it wasn’t with as much fanfare, Ghost Rider, Blade and the Punisher are all properties that were at one point reacquired from other studios. And while it’s great that so many holes in the universe are gradually being filled back in, there are two glaring missing pieces that Marvel just hasn’t been able to get their hands on: X-Men and the Fantastic Four (OK, in the name of thoroughness, I’ll also include Marvel’s a-hole answer to Aquaman, Namor, who, for incomprehensible reasons, was purchased and still owned by Universal). The X-Men are never freaking “coming home.” Give that pipe dream up. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of their movies, they’re just too profitable for Fox to ever consider sharing. Fantastic 4, however, is a different story. Obviously, Fox has high hopes for the upcoming series reboot, but if that falls flat, would it really be out of the realm of possibility to see a deal similar to Sony’s getting hammered out? Possibly, if for no other reason than spite. In case you hadn’t heard, the Marvel comics are dramatically rebooting–and Marvel is significantly altering the non-owned properties. Fantastic Four are getting canceled and no new X-Men characters or villains will be introduced. Furthermore, Disney and Marvel are blocking sales of all merchandise related to the Fox-owned characters. It’s a big deal.

These are just a few of the questions that have been rattling around in my brain with the news. There are also a million more: is the Sinister Six (a film of Spider-Man villains) still going to be made? What about longtime Avenger, Spider-Girl? Will she show up? And can we all cross our fingers hard that J.K. Simmons will reprise his role as J. Jonah Jameson?

There’s a lot more that I want to know, but that stuff can all wait for another day. Today, I’m just going to appreciate the excitement of comic fans everywhere, because I can’t wait to see our friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man swinging into the Marvel Cinematic Universe! Amen to that!