Amid rumours that Sony is looking to strike a deal with Marvel, Anthony Stokes on why Spider-Man should cross over with The Avengers and join the Marvel Cinematic Universe…
There are a number of fans who have been begging and pleading for Spider-Man to line up alongside The Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Avi Arad claimed months ago that “Spider-Man will never be in the Avengers”, but of course that was before the box office receipts from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came in. The worst reviewed Spider-Man movie ever, and also the lowest grossing. Now it’s rumored that Sony is trying to make its character relevant again by striking a deal with Marvel Studios and having him show up in The Avengers. So, is this a good idea?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a pretty consistent tone throughout all of its movies with very few exceptions. Most of the comedy comes from the characters and how they relate to the world they created. There’s not many Marvel movies you can call “dark”. Amazing Spiderman’s tone is a bit different. In my opinion The Amazing Spider-Man films try much harder to be both comedic and darker at the same time. And to be fair it’s Spider-Man so that’s to be expected. I think to have Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man work in The Avengers the character would need a little retooling. And speaking of comedy, Spider-Man’s dialogue is in a different bracket than the dialogue given to the Avengers. Which once again is to be expected when you have the guys who wrote Transformers: Rise of the Fallen going up against the guy who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But Spider-Man is a lot goofier, even sometimes when it’s inappropriate. In The Amazing Spider-Man 2 he was dicking around with Rhino whilst running red lights and crashing an 18 wheeler into civilian cars.
And honestly, that’s my only real concern about having Garfield’s Spider-Man in Avengers. There is the matter of why the hell is there no mention of the events of The Avengers in Spider-Man, but they can figure that out. Prior to Amazing Spider-Man 2, I would’ve heavily protested but I think Garfield has come into his own as Spider-Man and Peter Parker. His role and the movie is still mishandled, but he’s still getting better and improving on the character. Down to the suit being more colorful and more like the cartoon, to his comic delivery, I think Garfield is ready. And I think Joss Whedon writing for Spider-Man is a match made in heaven, both in terms of dialogue and action.
The Amazing Spider-Man had a few good action moments, along with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , but I don’t think anybody would argue that they’re better than the train sequence in Spider-Man 2. Whedon takes his characters and makes them extremely witty and that’s what Spider-Man needs. The writers got the annoying aspect of his personality down but dropped the ball on him actually being funny. As far as action, it would be great to see what Whedon could do as well. He takes his characters’ powers and makes them extremely innovative and fun even though we’ve seen them a hundred times, like when Thor’s thunder powered up Iron Man’s armor.
Should this come off, it would work great for both companies as Spider-Man is easily Marvel’s most bankable character aside from Iron Man, which is only due to Robert Downey Jr.’s performance. The bump from Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man plus Marvel’s momentum might help a future Avengers movie beat Titanic’s $2.1 billion gross. But mainly, it would help The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, which has run out of steam since and is grinding to a halt. Being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would add some foundation to all this world building they’ve been trying to do.
I have a good feeling this will pan out. The Spider-Man franchise isn’t dead in the water and it probably never will be, but it definitely needs some juice to get going again. A bump from being part of the MCU could help the next Spider-Man movie become the highest grossing yet. Time will tell if this rumor comes true or not…
Would you like to see Spider-Man joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Let us know your thoughts…
Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker who also hosts the podcast Delusional Losers.
Originally published October 7, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
