An Unprecedented Deal with Sony/Marvel Will Bring the World Famous Wall Crawler Into the MCU
Unless you have been living under a rock, you've probably read all about the deal that Sony and Marvel have struck to bring Marvel's (arguably) most recognizable character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Web Slinger will be introduced to the MCU through an existing and already announced Marvel Studios film and then he will make his solo film debut on July 28, 2017. This is amazing, spectacular, superior (see what I did there?) news! When the Sony hack happened, e-mails were made public that Sony/Marvel had spoken about this in the past, so this announcement wasn't totally out of left field, but the more time that passed this seemed more like a fanboy fever dream than anything that would actually come to pass. Now that we know that this is a go, and it's settled in, it's time for the best part of the process: Wild, unbridled, unsubstantiated speculation!!!
Now, Marvel didn't officially announce the movie that Spidey will make his MCU debut in, but smart money is on Captain America: Civil War which is set to hit theaters on May 6, 2016. Some "unnamed sources" have disclosed to publications like the Wall Street Journal that this is basically a done deal. And it totally should be! If you're not familiar with the plot of Marvel's 2006 event, the first thing you need to do is go here. I'll wait. Back? I assume you took care of what you need to take care of. Now, for some 9 year old spoilers. In Civil War, a super hero related tragedy leads to the passing of the Superhero Registration Act, a piece of legislation that requires all superheroes to register their civilian identities with the public. As you can imagine, not everyone is cool with this and it leads to a sharp divide between the heroes of the Marvel U, with almost everyone taking sides. Iron Man leads the pro-registration side, while Captain America leads the anti-registration side. The biggest moment in the event occurs in issue 2, when Spider-Man reveals he is Peter Parker at a Tony Stark led press conference.
When Marvel announced that the next Cap movie would be subtitled Civil War lots of folks wondered how the movie would fare without that big reveal. Turns out, we probably won't have to find out. There are still tons of questions about how Spider-Man will be integrated into the MCU. Will Sony's last two Spider-Man movies be canonical? Will they play it like this has been going on in the background of the MCU this whole time? Other heroes emerging since the Avengers and the Battle of New York and it just hasn't been commented on? I don't think too much time needs to be spent explaining to the audience where Spidey came from. I think it's fine to assume that the audience has enough of a working knowledge of the character to not overload on backstory. Have Peter, who is already Spider-Man, interning at Stark Enterprises. Tony figures out his secret identity and then once the fight about the SRA is getting started convinces young, impressionable, eager to please his hero, Peter to be the poster child for the pro reg movement. This positions Peter in the middle being pulled at by both Iron Man and Cap, who he of course admires and looks up to as a hero. It'd be perfect!
Spidey's solo film will be the fifth movie that has featured the web swinging super hero. What do we I want in the first Spider-Man film set in the MCU?
NO ORIGINS
Seriously. We all know Spider-Man's origin. Even my mom could tell you. My dead grandmother could. Teenage nerd. Bit by radioactive spider. Dead uncle. Great power. Great responsibility. How much time would be wasted going through this familiar story a THIRD time? And really, how many times does poor Uncle Ben need to die? By accepting that the first two Amazing Spider-Man movies are canon or just acknowledging that Spidey has been operating within the MCU, we don't need to waste precious time re-hashing a tale as old as time. We can just jump right into the action.
Villains
It seems like Norman Osborn is where you go when it's time to reboot Spidey or cast an antagonist against him. He has been built up as the Joker to Spidey's Batman, but I think, if you're going to bring back a villain from Spidey film's past, why not Doctor Octopus? If the Superior Spider-Man taught us anything it's that Otto Octavius may be the biggest, baddest Spider-Man villain of all time. But there is no reason to bring back a villain that has already appeared on screen. Spider-Man has one of the richest rogues gallery this side of Batman and there are tons that could make a splash on the big screen. If the Sinister Six movie is still in development why not have the Vulture or Kraven the Hunter or Mysterio be the first bad guy Spidey goes up against in the MCU?
Cast
It wasn't all good news. It looks like Andrew Garfield's tenure as Spider-Man has come to an end. That kind of sucks. He was good, but let's throw some replacement candidates out there. Now, I'm terrible at this, so you can take this with a grain of salt.
Bobby Morley I think that they may want to cast a relative unknown as the next Spidey to help keep costs down. Why not the actor who plays Bellamy on the CW's underrated sci fi drama, "The 100?" He's charismatic and attractive and comfortable with action and attractive. If Marvel wants to go a little older with Peter, I think he would be an awesome choice.
Evan Peters Evan has been working for the past few years on FX's "American Horror Story." He seems poised to really breakout and this could be it for him. I think Evan has that mix of cuteness and neediness that Peter needs and while he hasn't done a lot physically demanding things on AHS, I think that he would be up to it.
Josh Hutcherson If Marvel/Sony wanted to go with a "name" actor, then they could do worse than the actor who plays Peeta in "The Hunger Games." Hutcherson has that Spider-Man wit. He comes off as kind of a smart ass, which I think is important because that is such a huge part of Spider-Man as a character. It's the one thing that I thought was missing from the most recent reboots. There wasn't a lot of humor and I think the films suffered for it. Also, I mean, look at this kid. He's dreamy.
So, what did you guys think of this news? Any casting ideas? I'd love to hear about them in the comments.
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