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When Marvel Studios announced back in February that they had announced a deal with Sony to share the rights to Spider-Man on the big screen, it appeared to split fans into two different camps; either extremely annoyed at another reboot or ecstatic at the thought of Spidey finally being where he belonged.
Being huge Spidey fans here at Purple Revolver, doesn’t mean the former camp were completely wrong.
When we see Spider-Man make his MCU in Captain America: Civil War, it will be the third actor to portray the web-slinger in just thirteen years and when his solo film debuts, it will be the sixth film in just fourteen years.
It’s easy to see why fans have got frustrated with the constant changes. After all, there’s only so many times you can change a character before fans get bored.
But, this isn’t simply another reboot. Many aspects of this new direction point towards a bright future for Peter Parker and Spider-Man on the big screen.
First of all, let’s talk about Marvel Studios and more specifically its President, Kevin Feige. Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe was established with 2008s Iron Man, Marvel Studios have brought in $8.95 Billion Dollars from the box office, from a total of twelve films.
It’s also worth noting that Kevin Feige was the producer for all twelve of these films so it’s obvious the guy knows how to make a successful film, but what I think is even more obvious is that Feige’s knowledge of the Marvel Comics Universe is second to none.
Not only his knowledge of famous or important story lines but it’s clear to me that he understands the characters. It’s important to stay as close to the source material as you can when making a superhero film and even more importantly when developing these famous characters for the big screen.
You need to get right what their personalities are like, what they would and wouldn’t say, how they interact with other characters and how they react in different situations. Every major character in the MCU is written exactly how they would present themselves in the comics and this is obviously down to the talent of the various writers but also from the guidance and the knowledge of Feige himself.
Linking this to Spider-Man, a couple of months after the Marvel/Sony Spider-Man deal, Feige’s notes on Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man 2 film were leaked, during the Sony hacking scandal and they make for some very interesting reading.
Feige pointed out his likes and dislikes of the film but it’s clear to see he wasn’t the biggest fan of the film. Some of his biggest complaints are that there are too many story lines to focus on, criticism on individual characters and the decisions they are making and little notes about the wrong camera angle, scene set ups and even stressing that they shouldn’t show New Yorkers looting.
What is most clear from these notes however is that Feige simply just understands Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He puts a lot of emphasis on Andrew Garfield’s performance and the character himself and how they don’t really show just what Spider-Man is really all about.
He makes one note which really stands out; that Peter’s swinging emotional state and heavy focus on his father’s past distracts the audience from the idea that Peter is just a normal 15 year old kid from Queens, who becomes the worlds greatest superhero.
That after all is what Spider-Man was always and still is about. The notion that he’s a superhero but also a normal teenager with problems just like the rest of us and focusing away from that point really made the TAMS film franchise hard to relate to and as a result, fully enjoy. After reading these notes, I’m even more confident that this Spider-Man will be a success now that Feige is in control.
Apart from Spidey himself being set straight, he brings a whole new universe of stories, characters and opportunities for Marvel to now integrate into their Cinematic Universe.
He brings wit him probably the best roster of villains in the Marvel universe, some of the best including Venom, Doc Ock, the Green Goblin, Shocker, Vulture and many more, some cool side characters such as Black Cat, Spider-Woman, Mary-Jane, Aunt May, J. Jonah Jameson and possibly even Ultimate Spider-Man, Miles Morales.
Obviously the main focus will and should be on getting this Peter Parker just right but Marvel and Feige will know just what a gold mine they’ve landed to enhance their cinematic universe. What I think is the best part of this deal however is that now Spider-Man can interact with the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This is what Marvel and Sony are really going to push when it comes to marketing this new Spider-Man, the fact that he’s not just on his own anymore, he can in fact fight alongside everybody’s favourite Avengers like Captain America, Iron Man and Thor.
Marvel made it very clear when they were advertising Ant-Man that the character exists within this universe just in case some of the audience were unsure of who the character was and I think they will take a similar stance with Spider-Man. There’s already rumours that the new solo film will be called Spider-Man: The New Avenger, just to make it clear to everyone this is where he’s situated now.
As well as Spidey being able to play with the Avengers now, it’s also going to be extremely interesting to witness this new dynamic amongst this already offbeat team of superheroes.
By the time Peter comes into the equation, the Avengers will have been a team for a few years and they will all be pretty close-knit. They’ll all know who’s who and who does what job and why etc etc but with Spider-Man, they’re given this fifteen year old kid who none of them know and none of them will know what to expect.
He’s a genius who is supposed to be on the intellect level of Stark and Banner and power wise, he’s as strong as any of them, possibly even the strongest, bar The Hulk. So, when Spidey does eventually meet the wider Marvel universe then it’s going to be really interesting but mostly fun to see how they write him into the equation.
Tony Stark will have met his brain and sarcastic intellect, Cap will have met a fellow New Yorker as strong as he is and the whole team will gain something from him being a part of it.
Finally, I wanted to finish on some comments that Stan Lee made in light of the Marvel/Sony deal back in February. He started by saying that he was happy with Andrew Garfield’s portrayal as Spider-Man and was disappointed to see him go BUT he’s happy at the deal because the closer they can get to having the original Avengers team from the comics on the big screen, the better it is for fans everywhere.
And he’s absolutely right because there’s just no proper Avengers team without everyone’s favourite friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.