Marvel Finally Picks Up Spider-Man Rights, but Can it Save the Franchise?
A Union a Long Time Coming
So it would seem that Marvel and Sony have finally realized that the divide separating Spider-Man and the rest of the Marvel cinematic universe is unnecessary. It was announced that Sony had finally agreed to share rights and profits with Marvel in a way that allows Marvel Studios to have more control over the franchise. The possibility of Spider-Man joining the Marvel movies franchise leaves me with mixed emotions. One the one hand, this could be really successful.
Marvel has had much more triumph in melding fan satisfaction, good movie making, and box office bonanzas than Sony. Bringing Spider-Man into Marvel’s purview could really only be a good financial decision for Sony. Fans truly want to see the adorable web-slinger don’t justice with a movie that captures his personality and lets him interact with the superhero world in an organic way.
More of the Same?
On the other hand, do we really need another reboot of Spider-Man? Only a few years separated Toby Maguire’s earnest Peter Parker and Andrew Garfield’s Gen X Peter Parker. What might they do next? Perhaps Marvel should be focusing on other franchise possibilities that haven’t been implemented yet rather than giving us yet another version of Spider-Man. An interesting move might be to incorporate the Miles Morales Spider-Man, bringing much-needed ethnic diversity to the Marvel cineverse while also giving us one less thin, brunette, adorably awkward, white hero. And leave the typical origin in the past. At this point, even most non-comics readers know the back story by heart so why make us endure it again? Or maybe even keep the typical Spider-man but simply bring into an Avengers movie, for example, and allow him to just be in the moment, with minimal explanation.
I think we would all be quite fine with that. It’s not like we have to have everyone’s origin; Black Widow and Hawkeye certainly have no received almost no background information and yet are finding success as key players in a huge movie franchise. Whatever decisions Marvel and Sony make with their re-boot that’s ‘not a re-boot’, one thing is certain: they must give us something different. If we simply receive the same played-out Spider-Man story, old fans will be frustrated and new fans will be bored. This merger can only offer opportunities for success if it is not squandered. But for now the mystery remains, what version of Spidey can be expect to see next?
