Could ‘Spider-Man’ Be At The Center Of A Sharing Plan Between Marvel And Sony?

Much like that whole “Avengers 3 will be split into two movies” thing from last weekend, this newest one involving The Amazing Spider-Man is equally as crazy. It seems that the rumor mill for these comic book movies isn’t slowing down and there are almost more rumors involving comic movies than there are comic movies in production. That’s saying something and should ring alarm bells about over saturation, but it won’t.

The latest rumor is one that’s been hinted at before, but seems to be heating up a bit now. The idea is that Sony is now willing to open up and share Spider-Man with Marvel to include him in their larger cinematic plan. The geeky part of me loves the idea and loves the rumors, but the rational side knows that this has to be bullsh*t. From HitFix:

Sony, on the other hand, may be doing things the opposite way. While I can’t get the confirmations I need to verify the story, I’m hearing that there are some very cool “Spider-Man” plans being discussed that would help Sony refocus their enormously important franchise while also opening up some connections in the onscreen Marvel movie universe that would blow fandom’s minds. Will it work out? I don’t know. I would love to be able to state for sure that it’s happening. What seems clear from what I’ve heard is that Marvel wants to be able to play with all of their characters, and if they can make that work creatively and on a corporate level, they will, and that means the world gets bigger again.

Now you read that and it seems manufactured. I’d certainly lean that way, but we’ve also been down this road before, with this very scenario making an appearance around 8 months ago.

The part that should stick out in that link is that the quote comes from Avi Arad. He’s the guy who used to help usher along Marvel’s movie business, the producer behind all of the recent Spider-Man movies, and someone who has been against letting Spider-Man mingle from the beginning.

You might remember how he claimed to be the spark behind all of Marvel’s recent film success. He’s also the one who said that Spider-Man will never join up with the Avengers or the other Marvel characters on the screen.

If there’s a change in opinion, it would seem that Arad doesn’t necessarily speak for Sony and their decisions. Still, he’s got some opinions on how Peter Parker should be used if there ever was a crossover. From Screen Rant:

“I think there are some stories that will fit beautifully into a cross. Spider-Man would be incredible mixed up with those other universes. But if we want to do that, the crossovers, it has to be a story that is absolutely centered on Spider-Man. We cannot be second banana to anything out there. Because this is the king. This is the one that influenced young people from birth.

“I’m not preaching, but Spider-Man, Peter Parker, who is in all of us, is too important to go in and use it as a sidepiece for corporate purposes. The studio may disagree with me, some fans may disagree with me. I don’t care.”

The whole thing is just one big bad idea. Not as bad as selling the rights to your characters to competing studios and blocking them from ever appearing together, but pretty bad.

The whole Spider-Man series is plagued by bad ideas though. Let’s hope we can file this one as just another crazy rumor and not a reality.

(Via Slash Film / HitFix / Screen Rant)

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