WARNING: Possible spoilers for Spider-Man: Homecoming ahead
Spider-Man: Homecoming brings the web slinger to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a solo adventure and also apparently returns the hero to glory on the big screen if critics are to be believed. The film is the continuation of Peter Parker’s introduction in Captain America: Civil War and apparently is part of a huge plan for Spider-Man that spans across five films, ending with the sequel to Homecoming and the beginning of Marvel phase 4 according to Kevin Feige:
“We are looking at a five-movie storyline — Civil War, Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, untitled Avengers, Homecoming 2 — or whatever we end up calling it — as an amazing five-story journey for Peter Parker,” Feige says. “In the way that the events of Civil War directly inform the opening of Homecoming and his state of mind as he goes back to high school, so too will the events of the next two Avengers movies as he continues with high school. This original 22-movie arc ends with the untitled Avengers in May of 2019 and then two months later it will be Peter and Spider-Man (on July 5, 2019) that usher us into the aftermath and how things proceed from there.”
Phase 4 is being rumored as uncharted territory for Marvel, pulling back the epic scale we saw throughout the first slate of films and changing the way they all flow together, possibly due to contract negotiations and also possibly to just keep things fresh. There’s always the risk that the superhero bubble to could burst at any time, so trying to stay one step ahead isn’t a bad idea.
That said, the end credits for Spider-Man: Homecoming seem to hint at a former Sony idea coming together for future Spider-Man adventures. While it may not be playing out the same way in the MCU version, the details from the film’s release overseas indicate that we might get some version of Sony’s plans with the future Spider-Man installments from Marvel.
As most are aware, the film introduces quite a few names from Spider-Man’s rogues gallery to work with Adrian Toomes’ Vulture. This includes to men who took on the role of The Shocker in the original comics and Mac Gargan, the crook who would become The Scorpion and later inherit the Venom symbiote at once point. Everybody is just getting a start in supervillainy with this film, though, so all of that is being saved for a future sequel it seems. We see Gargan purchasing some of that Chitauri weaponry at one point, but nothing more on the evil front until the end credits.
That’s where Gargan hints at something we’ve heard before in Sony’s plans during the scene featuring his encounter with Toomes’ in prison. He tells the Vulture that he has “friends on the outside” and they want to team up to get back at Spider-Man, possibly hinting at a “sinister” team-up in the near future.
As you’ll remember, Sony had plans for a Sinister Six film before The Amazing Spider-Man series tanked and Marvel entered the picture. And while they are continuing their plans for Spider-related films like Venom and Silver & Black, the Sinister Six film is DOA. That means the nefarious team could make an appearance in a future film, possibly the final film in the proposed Spider-Man trilogy for Marvel. Their appearance in the film would make sense considering it has always seemed to be a final goal in terms of the Spider-Man films over the years, but it also runs the risk of running into the same trouble that Amazing and Sam Raimi’s trilogy ran into by their respective ends.
If you try to stuff too many villains into one film, things can be a little devastating and gives people bad memories of Batman’s nipples. It also takes time away from introducing these characters, turning them into cheap one-dimensional characters instead of proper foils for Peter Parker.
Another point to remember is that Scorpion has never been a member of the original Sinister Six team. Outside of The Vulture, most of the villains featured in the team have not been introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point. Original members Doctor Octopus, Electro, and Sandman were introduced in other films, but their MCU versions haven’t been revealed — if they ever will be.
So it seems that no matter, Marvel has a definite plan for Spider-Man in the future and might even try to make it the flagship series once the Avengers wrap up their epic battle for the infinity gems in 2019. If Homecoming’s sequel will set the tone for phase 4, you’d have to think that there are hopes that Spider-Man: Homecoming thrusts itself to the top of the Marvel pile and allows for the hero to blossom on the big screen alongside the other Marvel heroes.
Also need to be able to keep bringing Tony Stark back.
(Via Movie Pilot / Comic Book Resources)