I'm sure we're all aware of the deal Sony and Marvel have struck to have Spidey swing into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fan-boys and girls around the world are (mostly) overwhelmed with joy, excitement and anxiety as he is initially set to appear in the film adaptation of Civil War - However, are there any possibilities where we could see him sooner? Before we begin, how about be brush up on Spidey's role in the 'Civil War' event. Minor spoilers from the comics follow, so a fare warning for those who have not already read it...

Civil War - What Is It? 

The 'Civil War' may be over now, but the effects of it are still felt (at least in Peter Parker's world). The entirety of the superhero community was split in two by the Superhero Registration Act. With this law in effect, all superhero's were mandated to register their identities to the U.S. Government - and those who refused, became fugitives. The Avenger's were then dissembled, causing Iron Man to lead the 'pro-registration' side and Captain America to lead the 'anti-registration' side. 

 

Spider-Man: Which Side? 

I believe Spider-Man was the one of the main causes for the escalation. Peter Parker and Tony Stark became good friends (pre-civil war) and Stark actually appointed Peter to be his second hand man. Joining Stark in most of his travels, Peter became an asset as being one of the first heroes to find out about the new law. After an unfortunate event that caused the tragic deaths of a small community, the law is passed and Peter Parker is forced to decide where he stands. At first, Parker is hesitant to join Stark due to conflicting beliefs (one being Stark asks Peter to reveal his identity to the world), but ultimately joined him and let the world know who he was. Without going into much detail - everything went downhill for spidey after his reveal, which pressures Pete to join Captain America. 

 

Captain America: Civil War - Spider-Man's Role?

Will Spider-Man have a major role in the movie adaptation? Probably not. Rumors have it that Spider-Man's role will only be a cameo. However, this does not mean that he can't have an important part to play. Will Spider-Man need to unmask? Again, I highly doubt it. I think the best way to play this would be to use Peter Parker as Tony's assistant. Peter Parker has always had a problem with conflicting beliefs and morals. If Tony see's things one way, chances are, Peter will see them differently. As we've heard before already, Tony is supposed to be the movie's "villain". So by establishing Peter as a close, personal friend of Tonys', then have him (and some of the Avengers) oppose Tony, that would give good grounds to try to "prove" to them that he is the one thats in the right. 

Another way they might use Spider-Man is the most obvious way, throw him on one of the two sides. This seems like the most obvious choice for the movie right now, considering they only want him as a cameo. Maybe they will use a shot of Captain America standing in front of his Anti-Reg. team and Tony standing in front of his. Here, they can tease a bunch of characters that Marvel wishes to use in future movies, such as: Ms. Marvel, Black Panther and of course, Spider-Man!

 

Possible Earlier Sightings

I believe that the deal between Marvel and Sony has been going on for a while now and just haven't told the public about it until recently. If we think back to The Amazing Spider-Man, I recall a certain tower showing up in The Avengers. Since the deal probably just started around when The Avengers was in post-production, it was too late to visually add in the Oscorp building.

With that being said...Age of Ultron is coming out in a couple of months, meaning we could possibly get some sort of cameo. This cameo could be in the form of the Daily Bugle, Oscorp, or Spider-Man himself. 

I believe that we may get a small cameo or at least an easter egg of Spidey's existence in the MCU within Age of Ultron. Upon the inevitable destruction of multiple cities (New York being the most likely), we may get a quick glimpse of The Daily Bugle or at least it's newspaper. The best way to show this, would be at the end of the movie in the after credits scene. A good way to show this would be to have Captain America stumble upon one of the bugle's paper that reads the introduction of the Superhero Registration Act (with a picture photographed and credited to Peter Parker). 


I'd rather not see them just randomly throw Spider-Man into a movie just for the sake of "owning" him again. There needs to be some good justification of why they're using him and where he was during the first Avenger's movie. With that being said, I think another good setup for Spider-Man would be Ant-Man. 

As of Right now, we don't know much about Hank Pym's past as Ant-Man, but we do know he has the suit (implying that he was the previous Ant-Man). How he created the suit, the technology used to communicate with ants and shrink to their size is also unknown (unless they describe pym particles). Now, Spider-Man COULD possibly get his origin from Ant-Man's technology-gone-wrong. Hank Pym could have been experimenting with insects other than ants, such as wasps and spiders. In his own movie (provided if they decide to use another origin story...hopefully not) Peter could go to a display where one of Hank's radiated spiders bites him, and thats what gives him his powers. Since the basic premise of Spider-Man's origin has been used a lot in movies, we need not touch base with that again. This scenario is the least likely to happen (and hopefully doesn't), but anything can happen.

What about a cameo in the Daredevil Netflix series?


We've already see the Avenger's tower in the most recent teaser for it, so we know that it (being the events of Daredevil) happens before, during or after Age of Ultron. Spidey and Daredevil had quite a few run-ins in the comics, so it would make sense to make some sort of appearance. Even in the 2003 Daredevil movie, Bugle worker Ben Urich appeared (but worked for the new York post rather than the daily bugle), so there's still a chance!

The Possibilities are endless and my excitement rages on. I think a physical showdown with Captain America and a verbal battle-of-the-quips with Iron Man would bring about one of the best comic book movie experiences Spider-Man has to offer. With Age of Ultron coming out in May of this year, and Civil War coming out next year, what do you guys think? Would you rather see spider-man (or spider-man associated context) before Civil war? Sound off in the comments below!