Rumors. Hearsay. Innuendo. There’s so much mystery swirling around Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron that when a particular misdirection picks up real steam, you want to step in and call B.S. because you happen to know that it isn’t true. Thankfully, this time, Whedon himself threw cold water on a particularly hot rumor that an end-credits sequence for Age of Ultron hit the Web… pun intended.
In case you hadn’t heard, a video was making the rounds of Spider-Man appearing in what was rumored to be the sequence at the end of Ultron. I’ll include the clip below, but more important, Whedon told reporters at a UK press conference for his new Avengers film that this definitely is a fake, and that he doesn’t know where it came from. Whedon explained:
We wanted to be clear that there was no tag scene at the very, very end of the film. Because after sitting through 40 minutes of credits and not seeing anything, we thought people would become irate. [Laughs] So no, I don’t know where that started.
That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a mid-credits sequence – because there is. I’ve seen it. But it has nothing to do with Spider-Man. And it means that this clever, well-staged scene is as bogus as they come.
Which is too bad. There’s no ideal way to introduce Spider-Man to a universe which he should have been part of from Day One. But Marvel has earned the right to re-introduce the amazing hero in their own way. This clip is funny. And as Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has stated in the recent past, Spider-Man’s humor is expected to be a major part of the character when he gets his own standalone MCU movie in 2017. I’m not saying the joke is a home run. But as a throwaway tease telling fans that Spidey’s in this universe already, Marvel could have done worse.
So, we’re back to where we think we are on Square One. It’s believed that the new Spider-Man will make his screen debut in Captain America: Civil War, though that hasn’t really been confirmed with anyone at Marvel. Joe and Anthony Russo are returning to Marvel to direct that sequel, which will be in theaters on May 6, 2016. It’s probable that we will "meet" Marvel’s new Spider-Man long before that date… just, not in a manner that involves window washing.
