If you follow superhero movie news, you’ve likely seen a recurring thought posted by people in comment sections and forums concerning Marvel superheroes currently residing at other film studios: "Give the rights back to Marvel!" With the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, many fans want these other studios to relinquish control of their superheroes and let them come home to Marvel, especially Spider-Man. The Wall-Crawler hasn’t been having the best time of it on film lately, and there have been several reports of Marvel and Sony discussing deals to share the character. One of these deals discussed between the studios would involve a 60/40 split of the character, with Marvel wanting to obtain complete creative control. If this deal were to go through the way Marvel wants it, they already have plans in store for Spider-Man that can be summarized in three words: a fresh start.
According to Latino Review, if Marvel Studios were to get the Web-Slinger back, current Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield would be let go and the current Amazing Spider-Man film series would be deemed "non-canonical." The Marvel Studios Spider-Man films would forgo the traditional romance story and focus on the character’s struggles as both a teenager and a superhero, with romance only being a side-plot. Spidey’s origin story would also be glossed over, which makes sense. Aside from Batman and Superman, Spider-Man has the most recognizable origin story, and since it’s already been told in two movie series and several animated series, there’s no need to go over it again.
Back in October, there were rumblings that Marvel wanted Spider-Man to appear in Captain America: Civil War, an adaptation of the 2006 crossover event that Peter Parker play an integral part in. Although it’s still possible that Spidey could be included in the 2016 blockbuster, there are currently no plans to add him on. With the mixed response that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 received, Sony Pictures has struggled with trying to revitalize the franchise, specifically by pushing back The Amazing Spider-Man 3 to 2018 and dedicating attention to spinoffs like Sinister Six. In fact, it was rumored that Sony themselves wanted to do a soft reboot of the Amazing Spider-Man series in Sinister Six with Peter Parker being recast. Great minds think alike, eh? Obviously if Marvel gets control back of the character, all these spinoffs would be scrapped.
Although I haven’t cared for Garfield’s Peter Parker portrayal, I have enjoyed his Spider-Man persona much more than his predecessor. That being said, recasting the superhero is practically a given if Marvel gets him back. They need to distance themselves from the previous franchise, and keeping him only serves as a reminder of the past. Garfield left his mark on Spider-Man history, and another person would inherit the mask and web-shooters. Ideally we’d get someone who could play both Peter Parker and Spider-Man phenomenally.
Sony executives are going on a "Spider-summit" next month to discuss their plans for the Amazing Spider-Man series, so it will be awhile until we learn whether they want to team up with Marvel or keep playing the Spider game solo. As for Marvel, they have plenty of other characters to make into money-printing blockbusters, so while it would be nice if they got Spider-Man back, it’s not a necessity for them. If Sony decides to keep Spidey for themselves, we already know there will be at least one winner: Andrew Garfield.
