While Marvel Studios appears to be doing all it can to distance itself from the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot and the other big-screen franchises based on Marvel Comics properties that are currently owned by 20th Century Fox (namely, the X-Men movies), the studio’s relationship with Sony and its Spider-Man movie-verse appears to be a little less cold — and possibly getting even warmer in the years to come.
In a recent column about the wide-reaching effect that Marvel Studios’ success has had on the industry, HitFix makes passing mention of some unconfirmed plans regarding Sony’s Spider-Man franchise and the planned spinoffs that could forge a connection between those films and Marvel’s cinematic universe.
“While I can’t get the confirmations I need to verify the story, I’m hearing that there are some very cool Spider-Man plans being discussed that would help Sony refocus their enormously important franchise while also opening up some connections in the onscreen Marvel movie universe that would blow fandom’s minds,” reports the outlet.
“Will it work out? I don’t know,” continues the article. “I would love to be able to state for sure that it’s happening. What seems clear from what I’ve heard is that Marvel wants to be able to play with all of their characters, and if they can make that work creatively and on a corporate level, they will, and that means the world gets bigger again.”
A crossover between Spider-Man and the Marvel movies has long been rumored, and the groundwork for some of that synergy was considered in 2012 for The Avengers, with The Amazing Spider-Man producers revealing a while back that the Oscorp Tower from the Spider-Man universe was nearly included in the Manhattan skyline along with Stark Tower. Similar cross-pollination was intended for subsequent Spider-Man movies.
The studios weren’t able to reach an agreement in time to work the Oscorp reference into the film, but the notion that such a crossover was not only considered but actually came close to fruition lends some support to the recent suggestion of a Spider-Man/Avengers crossover. And with Sony and Marvel both setting up a long list of films over the next few years, there’s ample opportunity for such a crossover to still happen.