Months ago, reliable rumors swirled that Sony and Marvel were in talks to share Spider-Man on the big screen. The reasoning being, Sony has screwed up its handling of the character (despite the excellent Andrew Garfield) and doesn't know what to do with him — but he's still a money-maker so they don't want to lose him, either. Enter Marvel, who would like nothing better than to get the rights back to make its own Spider-Man movies.
The plan was to introduce Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016's Captain America: Civil War. It made sense; anyone familiar with the comic knows that Peter Parker plays a pivotal role in that storyline. Sadly, the deal fell through and there will be no one with arachnid superpowers in the third Cap movie.
We all thought that was the end of it. But today, Latino Review — which, it should be noted, has a reliable record when it comes to "inside reports" — is reporting that Sony and Marvel recently went back to the negotiating table for a second go-around and this time, a deal was reached to share Spider-Man.
Latino Review's entire report is here, but be warned that it includes what could be massive spoilers for Marvel's Phase 3 film slate.
If true, Spider-Man will apparently make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut with 2018's Avengers: Infinity War Part I, not with Captain America: Civil War. Which if true, is a shame. But with production ramping up on Cap 3 already, it was probably just impossible to squeeze Spidey in.
The last detail LR revealed is that Sony is considering recasting Spider-Man. Meaning Andrew Garfield will not appear on screen alongside Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth or any of the others. It makes sense that Marvel would want to start with a fresh slate, but it really sucks for Garfield.
This news leaves out one honking big issue, though: Will Sony continue making solo Spider-Man movies? Seems like they'd want to, don't you think? They could share Spidey with Marvel for his team-up appearances, but make the solo flicks themselves, just like Marvel does with its other characters. Or maybe Peter Parker will appear in the Marvel movies while Sony reboots entirely with Miles Morales? Anything could happen, fanboys and 'girls.
Take all this with a grain of salt for now — albeit a much-better-than-average sized grain.
