Let’s face it: when it comes to the cinematic future of Spider-Man, nobody knows what’s going on. And that’s because even Sony isn’t sure what the next move could be following the fan loathed and underperforming "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Just this past week the Sony leaks revealed that the studio briefly discussed trying to work about a deal with Marvel to include the character in "Captain America: The Civil War." It didn’t pan out, but it appears the talks between the two aren’t over.
Latino Review reports Sony’s parent company still wants to explore the option of working with Marvel. It’s a bit hazy at the moment, with meetings at the studio about the future of Spider-Man to take place next month. Basically, some kind of 60/40 split arrangement, with Sony retaining creative control, is still a desired outcome, but a lot of factors are at play. Firstly, Marvel probably won’t go for that kind of deal, no matter how much Sony will stress they want to bring their A-game to the material. However, if some kind of arrangement could be made to bring Spider-Man back to Marvel or in conjunction with Sony, it would be a complete reboot, dropping all the castmembers from Marc Webb’s films (goodbye Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone), skipping the origin story which has been explicated at feature length twice in a decade, and thus new films would commence with the teenage webslinger already living a double life. Again, if this all works out, this new Spider-Man could appear in "Captain America: The Civil War," but would not be a lead role and would be a cameo at best (the script is apparently locked for that film).
But this scenario would complicate or altogether scuttle Sony’s other plans for the character and franchise, including, according to The Wall Street Journal, an animated movie produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, two "Spidey-verse" expansions "Sinister Six" and "Venom," as well as "spin-offs focused on…women from the webslinger’s life." (Remember that Aunt May project?)
Indeed, according to leaked emails (via Comic Book Movie), Venom or Carnage are being debated as a baddie for "Sinister Six." Meanwhile, it appears that Anthony and Joe Russo were approached to produce Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ but turned it down, revealing they are attached to direct "Avengers: Infinity War" for Marvel (confirming a long-running rumor).
And speaking of that movie, James Gunn has once again reiterated that "Guardians Of The Galaxy" will not crossover into Avengers-land. "We really are separate from the Avengers, and I don’t think people should assume too many things about the Guardians play in all these. We have our own galaxy to take care of. Earth is the Avengers’ province. Thinking that everything is going to come together in a perfect way is not necessarily the way it’s going to happen," he told Screen Junkies. Not a surprise considering Gunn has already made it clear he’s not a fan of pointless world-building.
So basically, a lot of maybes here but nothing concrete….which is how this stuff generally is. But share your opinions and sound off in our comments section.