It’s Official: Sony and Marvel Reach a Deal for Spider-Man to Join the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel and Sony announced on Tuesday a landmark deal that will bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and make him an Avenger. Finally.

This is HUGE. That's why I used all caps right there. Spider-Man has always been Marvel's #1 superhero, but they licensed him to Sony before they realized they could create their own movie studio and make their own movies. Initially, Sony was killing it with the Tobey Maguire version of Spidey, breaking all sorts of box office records. However, the franchise stumbled, and the Andrew Garfield reboot just did not work. So now they're basically going to Marvel and saying please, help us.

Of course, when you put it like that, this deal sound like defeat for Sony. However, it's actually a coup. They obviously have no idea how to make the Spider-Man franchise work. But rather than selling him back to Marvel for a fixed sum because they're desperate, Sony has worked out a deal to co-produce Spidey movies with Marvel. Sony will finance and distribute the movies, but MCU architect Kevin Feige will come in and make sure the movies don't suck. In exchange for lending their expertise, Marvel gets to make Spider-Man an Avenger. Everybody wins.

Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel film from the MCU. Then he will appear in his own movie that will hit theaters July 28, 2017. Marvel and Sony have not officially said which MCU film will introduce the web-slinger, but it's got to be either Doctor Strange or Captain America: Civil War in 2016.

Either way, the schedule for Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been altered to make room for Peter Parker. Here's the new schedule, with asterisks next to the new dates:

Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016
Doctor Strange – November 4, 2016
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – May 5, 2017
Spider-Man – July 27, 2017*
Thor: Ragnorak – November 3, 2017*
The Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1 – May 4, 2018
Black Panther – July 6, 2018*
Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018*
The Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2 – May 3, 2019
Inhumans – July 12, 2019*

Oh, and in case you weren't sure, yes, all of this does mean we will get yet another new Spider-Man.

Andrew Garfield, we hardly knew ye.

[via Marvel]