Sony & Marvel Almost Joined Spider-Man With The Avengers
We were so, so close.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the recent hacker attacks against Sony (speculatively as a protest for The Interview, I think it’s protesting Annie) revealed emails exchanged between the higher-ups of Sony and Marvel Studios about possibly joining together to create a new Spider-Man trilogy. This plan also would have involved Spider-Man taking part in Captain America: Civil War.
Based on the conversations, Sony would have maintained “creative control” along with marketing and distribution, while Marvel Studios would bear the burden of producing all three new movies. We have an obsession with trilogies in these things. Obviously, these plans fell through.
From WSJ:
The e-mails reveal extensive discussions between executives at Sony and Marvel owner Walt Disney, all the way up to their respective chief executives Kaz Hirai and Robert Iger.
In an Oct. 30 e-mail, Sony Pictures president Doug Belgrad tells Ms. Pascal about a potential scenario that would see Marvel produce a new trilogy of Spider-Man movies while Sony retains “creative control, marketing and distribution.”
In a separate e-mail, Ms. Pascal tells a business partner that Marvel wanted to include Spider-Man in its planned third “Captain America” movie.
Equally as interesting, Sony hasn’t given up on Spider-Man, nor have they given up revamping their property. Instead of just going ahead with The Amazing Spider-Man 3, they seem to be taking the New York webslinger in a totally different (but not far-out) direction: Putting Spider-Man into the realm of action comedy.
From WSJ:
As of late November, executives were planning a “Spidey summit” for January to discuss future plans. Among projects in development are an animated Spider-Man comedy that would be produced by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the team behind “22 Jump Street” and “The Lego Movie,” as well as previously disclosed Spider-Man spin-offs focused on villain team Sinister Six, super-foe Venom, and women from the webslinger’s life.
So from Sony, we may get a cartoon Spider-Man film meant for laughs, and then a (presumably) a dark summer action film involving a ton of villains. Um, OK.
The part where Spider-Man was almost in Captain America: Civil War intrigues me the most, because of exactly what you think. Civil War. Spider-Man was the red dot in the crosshairs of that Marvel event, and to have Spider-Man be a part of it in the film would be one step closer to making the film faithful to that series. In some ways I’m happy the film is diverting (as far as we know) from that series, but it’s the roads less traveled that always seem appealing.
Regardless of Civil War, I’m still mad Sony and Marvel couldn’t get together. In high school and college there were friends you wanted to set up with other friends because you think they would be a cute couple. I’m not ready to give up on these two singles-ready-to-mingle yet.
