When it was first announced that Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures had come to an agreement to share the character of Spider-Man, and after the initial shock of said deal wore off, folks began wondering just exactly how this agreement would work. We learned that Spider-Man would definitely be appearing in Captain America: Civil War and other Marvel Cinematic Universe films, but what about Sony’s new Spider-Man franchise? How much crossover would there really be?
The language in the press release at the time said the intention was for Marvel characters to indeed pop up in the Spider-Man franchise, and now Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has doubly confirmed that yes, expect to see some familiar faces in the new new Spider-Man reboot. Speaking with EW, Feige had this to say on the topic:
“He is in the universe now, and the fun of the universe is that characters go back and forth.”
While Feige unsurprisingly declined to reveal exactly which characters might pop up, it seems unlikely that heavy hitters like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans would make an appearance due to contractual issues—RDJ, for instance, is only contracted to appear in Civil War and the next two Avengers movies. It’s more likely that we’ll see one or two of the supporting players from Civil War pop up, like Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man or Anthony Mackie’s Falcon, although it will be interesting to see where Spidey’s allegiances lie at the end of the Civil War battle.
Cop Car helmer Jon Watts is directing the standalone Spider-Man film, which has Tom Holland playing Peter Parker with Marisa Tomei as Aunt May and Disney Channel alum Zendaya in a supporting role. Watts is working from a screenplay by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses), and casting is heating up as the film’s summer production start-date looms closer. If all goes according to plan, the July 7, 2017 release of this film will be the first of many new Spider-Man movies from Sony, now with 100% more MCU crossover appeal.
