Jun
23
Marvel Team-Up, Not Featuring Spider-Man
Filed Under Blockbusters, Comics, Movies
Spider-Man’s never been much of a team player. He was in “Marvel Team-Up Featuring Spider-Man” with various and sundry guest stars over the years, but his pairings never led to a full-fledged partnership. Recently he joined the New Avengers after the events of “Avengers Disassembled.” Then the Civil War broke out, and Spidey sided with the pro-Registration Iron Man…before he flip-flopped and joined up with Captain America’s anti-Registration side. He’s currently on the run with the few remaining members of the New Avengers, the ones who haven’t registered or been killed. But that’s more out of necessity than Spidey’s willingness to be part of a team. I think he’s still smarting from the very first issue of “The Amazing Spider-Man” when he tried to join the Fantastic Four and they snubbed him.
Producer Laura Ziskin has announced that the fourth “Spider-Man” movie should hit theaters in May of 2011. That’s the same summer Marvel Studios has earmarked for their “Captain America” and “Avengers” films to drop. Now here’s where things get confusing. Marvel Studios doesn’t produce the “Spider-Man” movies in-house, like they did with “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk.” Sony Pictures holds the rights to the “Spider-Man” franchise. And although Spider-Man and Iron Man are both characters published by Marvel Comics, it’s unlikely that their movie counterparts — whose rights are owned by two separate companies — will have any screen time together in the upcoming “Avengers” film.
So maybe it’s a good thing that Spider-Man’s a bit of a lone wolf. He’s not like Wolverine is to the X-Men. Non-readers might be confused about Spidey’s absense from the ranks of the “Avengers” when the movie opens, but studio chiefs are not rabid fanboys. Even if Spider-Man were a prominent member of the Avengers, I doubt Sony would loan him out to another studio for a team-up film.
When Warner Bros. was trying to get a “Justice League” movie ramped up before the WGA strike, they were planning on recasting the roles of Superman and Batman. This is the same studio that has the rights to the Justice League and Superman and Batman, not to mention three picture deals with Brandon Routh and Christian Bale, who play Superman and Batman, respectively.
To understand how things work in the entertainment business, you have to remove your brain from your head, kick it around on the floor for awhile then put it back in your skull upside-down and backwards. It’s amazing that movies get made at all, considering how stunningly idiotic the decision makers can be.
At any rate, when Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is picking his Avengers team, he can only draft members that are part of Marvel Studios’ in-house projects. That includes Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and Captain America. Spider-Man’s unfortunately the unpopular kid on the block who won’t get picked. But that’s the old Parker luck for you.
-Brad Lohan
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Great article.
I’d love to see Spidey in an Avengers movie.
He is currently a member of the Avengers and it would be total blast to have him join the team.