In the comic books, Spider-Man has often been a member of the Avengers, but in the movies, that didn't happen until recently.
That's because the cinematic rights of Spider-Man belonged to Sony, which has spent much time and effort in rebooting the web-spinning character in two film franchises, one starring Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, the other starring Andrew Garfield.
However, a new reboot of Spider-Man started when Sony agreed to let Marvel make Spider-Man part of the latter company's cinematic universe. That meant that, for the first time ever, Spider-Man got to appear onscreen with the Avengers in this year's Captain America: Civil War. This time, the character was younger and far more energetic than we've seen him in the past: many fans believe it's one of the best portrayals of the character yet.
However, Sony and Marvel have more plans for Spidey, including a full Spider-Man universe. It seems the two companies finally understand what fans want, at least judging by the enthusiastic response to Spider-Man in Civil War.
Civil War also introduced a new actor to the role, Tom Holland, who will also star in a standalone Spider-Man movie from Sony, Spider-Man: Homecoming. When asked about Spider-Man remaining in Marvel's cinematic universe, Sony movie head Tom Rothman stated that his company would continue to work with Marvel on the character and expand it beyond the one standalone movie.
"Yes to both those questions," Rothman said to the Hollywood Reporter. "It's been fantastic, our relationship with Marvel."
Rothman also answered a question about who has the ultimate say in how Spider-Man gets depicted on the silver screen.
"Sony has the ultimate authority," he said. "But we have deferred the creative lead to Marvel, because they know what they're doing. We start shooting the new Spider-Man in Atlanta [in mid-June]."
Sony also has an animated Spider-Man movie in the works, which won't have any connection to the live-action version of the character. Rothman spoke about how excited he is about that movie, calling it a "breakthrough animated sensation." The film comes courtesy of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who also did the LEGO movies.
This also means that Spider-Man will probably pop up in other Marvel cinematic properties, including The Avengers: Infinity War, as well as other Marvel superhero films.
Now, if only Marvel could work out a similar partnership with Fox over the X-Men franchise.
