If you haven’t heard the news, maybe because you have been hiding under some kind of digital rock, it looks like we may finally be getting Spidey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe. At least that is what is being reported. If it is true, it would be pretty amazing, considering all the legal hoops both Sony and Marvel would need to go through to make it happen. It looked like, just a year ago, that something like this would never happen, and now, according to the report, we will get Spidey in the MCU starting in the Infinity War part 1. More important than whether it will happen is why we need it to happen, or if we even need it to happen. I believe we need it. We need Spidey in the Avengers, we need him back home with Marvel, interacting with the other Marvel characters. Let me tell you why.
Super heroes are basically modern versions of gods. They are all-powerful and amazing and everything like that. They are basically everything we can never be, something that, no matter how hard we strive, we can never achieve. And that is part of why we love them, but it makes it hard for us to identify with them in the stories. I have never been injected with super serum, I have never been a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. I have never been able to turn into a giant green monster. That kind of stuff just doesn’t happen. The Avengers, like the Justice League in DC, are gods, and we are the little people. This is why we need Spider-Man. He isn’t a god like the others. He is just a regular guy who just happens to have been bitten by a radioactive spider. And that is why we love him.
I have always enjoyed reading the Avengers comics that involve Spider-Man. It just seems like we are seeing the Avengers through our eyes, through Spidey’s. He is always a little starstruck, always feeling a little inadequate, like he doesn’t belong, but he is there. I think that’s how most of us would feel if we were invited to hang out with the Avengers. I know I would. So Spidey gives us that in the comics. He is awkward and nerdy for us, and we love it. Bringing this to the films would be incredible. It would add a whole new depth. I wish it were happening in the Civil War Movie, instead of the next Avengers movie. The role he played, being stuck between Captain America and Iron Man, in the comics was so crucial. It’s how we all felt. Iron Man and Cap were both our heroes, how are we supposed to choose between the two of them. All of this was articulated in Spider-Man as the story progressed. He would be a key figure in Civil War if that were possible, but I’ll take what we can get.
We need Spider-Man to bridge that gap between us and them, for sure. I think more than that, according to the report I linked to earlier in this post, if Iron Man is in space with Hulk and Cap is dead and Thor is captured, we will need Spidey just to have a familiar face in the crowd. And faces don’t come any more familiar in the Marvel Universe than Spidey. It will make the transition easier for us to the new Avengers, like daredevil or Iron Fist or Doctor Strange. We need Spidey to bridge that gap as well. The original Avengers are all supposed to come back for Infinity War part 2, but what about after that? That is possibly the end of our time with Stark and Rogers and Thor and Hulk. It may be the beginning of a whole new era with new Avengers, and Spider-Man would be a perfect anchor for the team.
The biggest reason we need Spidey in the Avengers is that we need Spidey away from Sony. Amazing Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man 2 weren’t horrible, like Daredevil horrible, but the studio’s plan for the Sinister Six and Venom and endless Spider-Man spin offs sounds bad. I personally don’t care about a Sinister Six movie, and I feel like the only reason they’re doing it is to keep the rights to Spider-Man and the Spider-Man characters. Spidey is at his best, though, when he is interacting with other Marvel heroes like Iron Man and Cap and Doctor Strange and so on. It would just be great to see Spider-Man get the MCU treatment and not have him stuck in his own contained universe. He needs the other heroes, and we need him to have them. As of now, the report is only that Spidey will make his debut in the Infinity War part 1, but there is no indication where that might leave Sony and their deal with the web slinger. I don’t know if that means the end of his time over at Sony or not.
This is big news all the way around, and I think it will lead to better movies with characters that are easier to identify with. I hope this means that Spidey will find his way home permanently. I think we would get better quality Spider-Man movies, more truly aligned with Marvel’s vision. Plus, it would be huge cash-flow for Marvel and Disney. Spider-Man is the most recognizable property Marvel has and the most marketable.
In the end, all of this may just end up being wishful thinking for Marvel fanboys everywhere. The report seems to be pretty legitimate, but it still just seems shocking considering how complicated all of this seemed just a short while ago. It would be pretty remarkable if it does turn out to be true, and would be a great turn of events for Marvel and Disney. They would have a marquee character to carry on after Iron Man and Captain America, and that is something that right now, they don’t have. Plus, it might end the constant reboots and relaunching we have seen thus far with Sony. Now, Marvel just needs to focus on bringing the Fantastic Four home, and save us from more Fox disasters like it sounds like this new Fantastic Four will be. Then, for the big guys, the X-Men. Maybe someday, if they can work out this deal, they can work out the X-Men stuff and we can see an Avengers vs. X-Men movie. That would be awesome.
