One of the most eagerly sought out questions stemming from Marvel’s soon-to-be-released smash Captain America: Civil War (no ambiguity is required there) has to do with the behind-the-scenes re-jiggering of the comic book titan’s beloved Spider-Man character. A newly costumed Tom Holland (The Impossible) is set to make his web-slinging debut as the powers that be have begun to work out the logistics of Spider-man entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This has been a heated discussion backstage for fans and film executives alike for years ever since Marvel joined the Disney fold while competitor Sony has maintained the license for the Spider-man character.
With a merging imminent, the questions now relay as to what Sony’s upcoming re-re-booted Spider-Man may look like following the character’s appearance in the upcoming Captain America: Civil War. Collider sought out some answers from the one of the few who is in the know, Marvel Studios president Kevin Fiege:
We’re working very much [together]. It is a— I don’t know exactly what the credits will be, but it is a Sony Pictures production of a Marvel Studios film. The agreement was that it is very much a Sony Pictures movie. Amy Pascal is co-producing it with us and [Sony Chairman] Tom Rothman is leading the charge for Sony and that we are the creative producers. We are the ones hiring the actor, introducing him in this film, and then working right now on the script and soon to be shooting the actual Spidey film.
Feige was also grilled over whether or the next Spider-Man feature will re-introduce Peter Parker’s origin story, a tale that’s already been woven into the storytelling of both Sam Raimi’s original Spider-man (2002) and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man (2012); the first film series famously starred Tobey Maguire while the second feature The Social Network star Andrew Garfield. Feige stated:
We spend a lot of time as we work on these movies saying ‘Don’t take it for granted that the audience saw the other the other movies or that the audience is as versed in the comic books as we are.’ We take great pains to give you everything you need to know within the context of whatever movie you’re actually watching. However, we did say, if it’s safe to assume anything, it’s safe to assume that everybody knows how Spider-Man became Spider-Man and what that backstory was. We’ve seen it a number of times now, it’s its own well-known mythology. So we said, let’s reveal that there’s been a Spider-Man in the MCU and we meet him, as you see, in [Civil War]…There are events that made Peter who he was, and we’ll certainly allude to those events, but we’re much more focused on his future and how he continues to grow and have a steep learning curve after, certainly, the adventure he had in Civil War on how to be his own hero.
What exactly will be examined in the upcoming Spider-man reboot is not clearly detailed at this point. Murmurs online have alluded that the film may be entitled Spider-Man: Homecoming – this piece of information was brought up after Sony recently acquired a domain name using that moniker, significant since a Marvel comic with that name featured appearances from both Captain American and Iron Man. Birth.Movies.Death. also has reported that the villain in the film may be Vulture. This is all pure speculation at this point in time as nothiing has been confirmed either way.
The next Spider-Man reboot will star Holland along with Oscar winner Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) and rising star Zendaya. Jon Watts (Cop Car) will direct the feature which has a release date planned for July 7, 2017.