Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige spoke out again about Spider-Man joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he said the webslinger belonged all along.
“Making that agreement was great, and was really amazing, and on a personal level making these movies, it means a lot because I think we can do great things with Spider-Man,” he said during a Q&A promoting the Blu-ray release of “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
“I think Spider-Man can serve great purpose in our universe and that’s where he belongs,” Feige said. That was what unique about him in the comics was not that he was the only superhero in the world; it’s that he was a totally different kind of superhero when compared against all the other ones in the Marvel universe at the time.”
However, superhero fans are worried that “Captain America: Civil War,” in which Spider-Man is set to make a cameo, will be overcrowded with superheroes. The last installment of the “Captain American” triology already includes Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, Hawkeye and Ant-Man.
“There were a lot of characters in ‘The Winter Soldier,’ but it felt like a very singular and relatively simple thriller,” Feige said. “‘Civil War’ follows in that same way. I think that’s something [directors] Joe and Anthony Russo pride themselves on, and our screenwriters Chris Markus and Steve McFeely are excellent at giving each character just enough. They’re not full arcs for everybody; it’s just enough that their presence is felt and important, but that the very clear single story that is being told is being served at all times.”
Until now, “Spider-Man” was part of Sony’s self-contained movie universe in which no other characters like Superman or Thor existed. But the deal between Marvel and Sony to produce future “Spider-Man” films as part of the MCU could potentially feature the popular character interacting with other Marvel superheroes in upcoming films.
Sony has owned the feature rights to the comic book hero since 1999, when Marvel sold it for $7 million.
Not only does the new pact give Spider-Man a cameo in “Captain America: Civil War,” which will be released May 6, 2016, but Marvel’s Feige will also produce a so far untitled Spider-Man reboot that Sony will continue to distribute, finance, own and have financial control over.
The reboot is currently stated for July 28, 2017, and stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker, replacing Tobey Maguire from the original “Spider-Man” trilogy and Andrew Garfield in the recent “The Amazing Spider-Man” films.