EDITORIAL: Expectations for Spider-Man's Presence in MCU

Spider-man is coming home (sort of). As everyone and their grandmother have heard, Marvel and Sony struck a deal to bring a new Spidey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The deal states that your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler will appear in 'Captain America: Civil War' and likely 'Avengers: Infinity War' (which part(s) we don't know.)

While Sony will retain creative control of his solo adventures, with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige coming on as a Producer to keep the Sony produced movies in line with the MCU. Several MCU mainstays can now appear in the Sony produced solo movies.

Many have already set high expectations for the new Spider-Man's debut and role Captain America's third solo film. But those same people seem to be forgetting whose movie this is. I expect Spider-Man/Peter Parker will have a very minimal role in 'Civil War,' contrary to his central role in the 2005-06 Marvel comics event the movie is based on.

Here is what I expect from this sudden change to the MCU and what I hope to see and why I think it will happen this way.

1.) No Origin Story
If we're going to be introduced to Peter Parker in 'Captain America: Civil War,' it should be safe to assume that Mr. Parker has already been bitten by that fateful spider at Oscorp and is becoming a bit of a New York myth (since his character has never been mentioned before in the MCU.)

This means when we are brought into the new Spider-Man/MCU collaboration in July, 2017, we won't need to be refreshed on Peter's origin for a third time in 15 years. We all know the deal: Peter is an unpopular smart kid. Goes on a field trip. Gets bitten by a radioactive spider. Gains amazing powers. Takes the powers for granted and personal gain. Becomes a selfish jerk. His beloved Uncle Ben is killed due to Peter's selfishness. Peter vows to never let anyone else die due to his inactivity. 

We don't need to see that again. If you still want to give Uncle Ben screen time, you can do flash backs to life events. We don't need to relive Ben's death again. This adds for more development within the movie and less filler.

2.) No Unmasking in 'Civil War'
The biggest shock that came out of the Civil War comic was Peter Parker unmasking on live TV. In the established 616 continuity, this made sense. Spider-Man had so heavily guarded his identity to protect his family that his unmasking became Tony Stark's "ace in the hole" to get any undecided super powered persons to join his side of the debate.

Unmasking your newly christened Spider-Man in his first film appearance sets up a FOX level continuity problem. Unless Sony is looking adapt the One More Day storyline that followed up the Civil War comic, this seems unlikely, as it could be tough to figure out a reason good enough to keep viewers believing that the entire world just decided to accept that Peter Parker wasn't Spider-Man or just plain forgetting (as in the comics when Peter sold his love with Mary Jane to Mephisto to save Aunt May and have the world forget that Peter Parker was Spider-Man.)

With a new Spider-Man taking up residency in New York in 2016, it makes little sense to have him nationally reveal his secret identity in the same movie that he is introduced. What could happen is that we are introduced to Peter in the same way we saw the Waitress in Marvel's The Avengers. Peter could be introduced as an unnamed high school kid touring Stark Tower or the Captain America museum early in the film and only appear a few times throughout. Then he could be shown getting ready to go register himself at a Pro-Registration rally and through whatever plot contrivance, change his mind and sneak his way out of line, via his web-shooter (Ta-Da! I'm Spider-Man!) Or they could save the reveal for a post-credit scene.

3.) Don't Forget Whose Movie 'Civil War' Really Is
Yes. It is super exciting that Spider-Man is now under the MCU banner. A day many thought would never come. But let's not forget that 'Civil War' is first and foremost a Captain America film that will be loosely based on the Mark Millar event. It seems everyone has gotten so excited for the wall-crawler coming to the studio that brought together the Avengers that it seems many are forgetting the first part of the 'Civil War' movie title.

Here's a hint: It's not 'Avengers: Civil War' or 'Spider-Man: Civil War.' 'Captain America: Civil War' will likely deal with the fallout created from the 'Winter Soldier' and 'Age of Ultron' films, there is little room to build an entire sub-plot around our new web-slinger. There is still a lot to follow up on from the end of the 'Winter Soldier'

By the time we get around to 'Civil War' Bucky will have been roaming around and likely looking to atone for his deeds as the Winter Soldier for two years. Tony Stark will also probably find out about Bucky's identity and his role in the death of his parents, adding fuel to the fire that will be between Tony and Steve throughout the movie. Spider-Man doesn't fluidly fit into this picture. Not without a lot of shoehorning. Kevin Feige seems to have learned from the studios past mistakes (Iron Man 2) and trying to cram too many things into one solo film. 

4.) Take Cues from the Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series
I will go to my grave proclaiming that Greg Weisman and Victor Cook's short-lived series 'Spectacular Spider-Man' is the definitive (non-comic version) of Spider-Man. The show kicked off with a fully suited Spider-Man yee-hawing his way through New York City. The origin story isn't touched on until the episode 12 (of 13,) when Peter has an internal battle with the Venom symbiote and Peter's memory of Uncle Ben helps him repel the symbiote.

The biggest thing the show nailed was the struggle between Peter Parker wanting to be there for his friends and family, while maintaining his responsibility as Spider-Man to keep his promise to Uncle Ben. Both sets of the Sony produced Spider-Man movies couldn't find that balance. They came close in the first 'Amazing Spider-Man', but still ended up focusing too much on Peter's romantic relationship, rather than what it means for him to be Spider-Man.

The Sony pictures never seemed to truly understand what made Spider-Man so beloved in the comics and TV series. It's not just the wise-cracks. It's not just his relationships as Peter Parker. What makes Spider-Man/Peter Parker special is the Parker Luck. When life seems to be going well for both Spidey and Peter, you can be sure that something bad is lurking just around the corner.

Throughout the Raimi films, the villains never came off as truly villainous. They were campy and came straight from the Stan Lee/Steve Ditko era of the comics. But we had to deal with a mostly mute Spider-Man who only came around to resolve issues that came up in Peter Parker's life.

In the Marc Webb films, we got a darker take on the wall-crawler and there's one thing Spider-Man can never be for too long and that's dark. While Webb and company nailed the the web-head's dialogue. The misfired (again) by trying to overstuff a film with more than a two-hour action movie could contain and attempting to establish their own cinematic universe. All in one movie! 

The Webb films bring me to my last point:
5.) Get an Age Appropriate Actor for the Lead
Andrew Garfield embodied a fan living out his dream. Unfortunately he was considerably older than his on-screen counterpart. Given the fact that Peter is graduating high school at the beginning of 'Amazing Spider-Man 2' one could assume that Peter is a junior in high school during the events of the first 'Amazing Spider-Man' making him either 16 or 17 years old. At the time of filming, Garfield was 27 years old when he was cast in 2010. If they were bringing a college level or post-grad Peter Parker to the screen, there's little need to suspend disbelief that this guy is Peter Parker/Spider-Man. But as a high school student? No. I'm sorry. But no.

It's already been confirmed through various news sources that Marvel wants Sony to bring in a "young actor" to take on the MCU version of the character and that he will be in high school again. Knowing Marvel's penchant for finding actors that are seemingly perfect for the role, I have little doubt that they will bring someone in who is closer to the age of a high school Peter Parker. With casting likely already under way, Marvel would seemingly be looking for an actor in their late teens/early 20s.

I don't want to be the one to burst the Spidey bubble, but losing focus on something because of one bit of news is a terrible way to live life. Especially when we have no idea what Kevin Feige's objective for the MCU will be throughout these next few years.

To reaffirm, Spider-Man coming to the MCU is a wonderful, beautiful thing. But we need to let cooler heads prevail and trust in the powers that be to give us the greatest cinematic interpretation of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man we have yet to see.

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