Sony hack reveals that Spidey ALMOST made it into the MCU!

It’s been something that’s been argued over by countless comic book aficionados with various degrees of gusto over the years – when will Sony bite the bullet and make a deal with Marvel to get Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Unfortunately, the answer for now is still ‘not a chance’, but the vast swathe of data that the now infamous hack of Sony Pictures’ network has made its way onto the Internets indicates that we came far closer to seeing this than anyone thought possible.

The Wall Street Journal reports that amid the torrent of leaked information, e-mails exchanged between Sony execs, primarily motion picture chief Amy Pascal and president of Sony Pictures Doug Belgrade, indicate that they were in high-level talks to have Marvel Studios produce a trilogy of Spider-Man films that would see Sony themselves retain control of the distribution, marketing and creative elements, whilst tying in to the MCU’s shared world at large. In a separate conversation, Pascal states to a colleague that she had been contacted by Marvel, who were expressing interesting in getting Spider-Man included in Captain America: Civil War, a particularly enticing notion given Spidey’s instrumental role in the legendary event.

The talks have all broken down, with Sony now sticking to their plan of continuing with the ‘Spider-Verse’ set into motion by their lacklustre Amazing Spider-Man movies, with their Sinister Six and Venom spin-offs apparently going ahead, as well as one starring an as-yet-unspecified female supporting character. Perhaps oddest of all, they also appear to be planning an animated comedy from the folks behind The Lego Movie and 22 Jump Street. Make of that what you will.

This certainly proves that Marvel were willing to discuss a compromise with Sony with regard to Spider-Man’s cinematic outings, and doesn’t shine a great light on Sony, particularly given their mishandling of their glossy, but empty-hearted recent efforts. But whatever you think on that matter, if you’re a Spidey fan, this a tantalising, bitterly disappointing glimpse of what could’ve been.

The Writer of this piece was: Ross Sweeney
Ross tweets from @Rostopher24