By now you have probably heard that Marvel Studios / Sony talks have come to an end; and Spider-Man is indeed returning home – or is he? The short answer is yes; but the complexities of this deal are far more involved and are already causing huge repercussions for Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So I’m putting together EVERYTHING you need to know about this deal as it stands now, and showing what’s good, not so good and what we might just need a little bit of faith for.

The Deal:

There’s been two reported deals thus far; but the one that is actually taking place now seems to be very close to the one leaked by the Sony Hack a few months ago. Now I had a lot of worries with that one – and still have a few as you will see below; but thankfully the idea seems a bit more sound than originally proposed.

The basic points of the deal are as follows:

• A NEW Spider-Man will be introduced in an upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film
• Marvel (Kevin Feige) and Sony (Amy Pascal) will then work together (with Sony having the final say in things) on a Spider-Man film to be released on July 28, 2017
• Both Marvel and Sony are discussing the possibility of other existing MCU character to appear in the Sony Spider-films

As for the finer points and the “read between the lines” aspects of the deal, those will be explored below.

Spidey’s Coming Home – The Good:

Whatever repercussions this might involve, the fact that Spider-Man is indeed coming home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is HUGE news. Now you might be wondering why this is such big news as opposed to the X-Men or Fantastic Four returning to Marvel. Well, whereas all properties were lent out before the Marvel Cinematic Universe began, Spiderman holds the largest connection to the Avengers Universe.

Beyond his huge comic crossovers in such pivotal stories such as Civil War, etc; Spider-Man has still maintained a huge presence in the animated world alongside the Avengers. Marvel’s Ultimate Spiderman is all about Spider-Man training with SHIELD to become the Ultimate Spider-Man and one day join the Avengers. Additionally, if you look at the rest of Marvel’s Animated Universe – Hulk & The Agents of Smash, Avengers Assemble – Spider-Man makes quite a few cameos as well. If anyone could make a seemingly clean entrance into the Marvel MCU – as far as it just being one character rather than a full team – it’s the more or less standalone Spider-Man.
As for which Spider-Man will be coming to Marvel remains to be seen. Will we REALLY get another Peter Parker story reboot? If so, then they don’t really have to waste any time of too much backstory and could jump right in after a quick minute intro like they did for the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. On the other hand, they could really start a whole new Spider-Man by brining in Miles Morales, an incredibly popular alternate Spider-Man that has connections to Peter Parker – best of both worlds.

What About Amazing Spider-Man, Sinister-Six, Etc?:

Well with Andrew Garfield out – I know – the Amazing Spider-Man Universe is effectively canceled, which is honestly a shame since Amazing Spider-Man 2’s focus was setting up a TON of spin-off films. As of the moment, the Sinister Six film based around Spider-Man’s villains – which has already been in the works – is delayed at best. Though I wouldn’t be surprised to see this film completely canceled. Even if it did come out, it would probably exist in a separate universe since Marvel Studios wouldn’t be involved with it. The only other way it can play out is for the film to undergo a MASSIVE rewrite with Marvel and Sony adapting the film to their new Universe.

Whatever the fate of Sinister Six might be, Amazing Spider-Man 3 is certainly canceled as are any other intended spin-off films that might have started production. With Garfield out and Marvel Studios now offering assistance, this is just common sense.

Phase 3 Repercussions – The Bad:

For anyone who’s wondering if Spider-Man will ACTUALLY hold a place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you need not look any further than the release date of the stand-alone Sony film. Even though Sony will have final say on many aspects of the film, it will still be FIRMLY locked in the MCU as apparent in its July 28, 2017 release date – a date originally slated for Thor: Ragnarok. So what happens to Thor: Ragnarok and all the films after Guardians of the Galaxy 2? Well, the answer is what has me and many other fans a little worried.

As you can see in the info graphic above, each of the Marvel films is being pushed back by one release; HOWEVER, the Avengers: Infinity War release dates remain unchanged? If you don’t understand why that’s a HUGE deal, then let me spell it out. The Black Panther film – a character that is already cast and set to appear in Captain America: Civil War – will NOT be fully explored and introduced until after Avengers: Infinity War (Part 1). It’s great to have Spider-Man back; but to push back the Black Panther – a VERY long awaited hero and spectacular character – film in favor of ANOTHER reboot is a little sad.

Additionally, this might also mean that Black Panther won’t appear in Avengers: Infinity War (Part 1) since it’d be strange to have a support character appear twice before any real character exploration. Though the biggest head scratcher is the new date for The Inhumans, a story line that is NOW being set up by Agents of SHIELD; yet won’t appear in Avengers: Infinity War at all. For all intents and purposes, this film might as well kick off Phase 4. If the Avengers films were pushed back too, that’d be great; but this new revised timeline might cause more harm than good.

How It Will Work – The Wait-And-See:

Based on the release date for Spider-Man, his Marvel debut has to be in either Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Doctor Strange or Captain America: Civil War. Due to his involvement in the comic story – and lack of crossover potential with the other two – it’s safe to assume he’ll be in Civil War. Though that is already going to make things complicated considering Civil War was already rewritten once to accommodate a larger Tony Stark role.

Will they rewrite the film yet again to make room for Spider-Man? Will they introduce too many new heroes considering Black Panther is supposed to be in there as well? This is honestly something we’ll have to wait and see. Perhaps Spider-Man’s introduction will be a Post Credits scene – which I honestly think would be the perfect amount of intro / suspense for the following year’s film.

Did Marvel just bite off more than they can chew? Is their universe going to expand too quickly? If other MCU characters can appear in the Spider Sony universe, will Spider-Man still try to appear in Avengers: Infinity War? After all the confusion this is causing, he better! Though as for all the logistics and execution of those prior question, let’s trust Marvel Studios. They’ve done spectacularly thus far, so here’s hoping they continue to surprise us – in a good way. Then again, we have to remember that Sony still has final say in a lot of these things.

So what do you love / dislike about this news? Upset Andrew Garfield is out? Hoping to see the Iron Spider in one of the new films? Sound off in the comments below and stay tuned here and on Facebook for more updates.