Fans across the world rejoiced the day we found out that our favorite wise cracking, wall crawling, and most importantly friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was finally coming home. Since then, many rumors and speculations have been circulating the internet pertaining to who will play him, to what his costume will look like, to even when he will make his first appearance. For certainty, we now know that young talent Tom Holland, star in the upcoming film “In The Heart Of The Sea” will be playing Spider-Man. His first appearance will be in the latest Marvel film “Captain America: Civil War”. This will then lead into his solo debut in 2017.
Now, you maybe wondering, what exactly does Spider-Man have to do with the Inhumans? Well, nothing. Not yet at least. I believe Marvel Studios plan to take a new direction with the origin of Spider-Man. The seeds for this new origin have been planted as far back as Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD season one, and have only been further proven with the events that transpired in the season two. In a time where the comic book genre is thriving, many new and unfamiliar properties are making their way to the big screen. For example, last years “Guardians of The Galaxy” made its way to theatres. This film proved that even the most outlandish characters can work well both at the box office and with fans and critics alike. Last November, president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige announced the line up for phase three of the studios films. A total of nine films were added, and several new properties were included. One that stood out to many was “Inhumans”. The film is slated to be the last film of phase three, hitting theatres July 12th, 2019. Marvel is onboard with the project, demonstrating the utmost confidence with Inhumans. Fox owns the rights to Mutants, and they are clearly using Black Bolt and his people as their replacement. They have every right to do this switcheroo given their stellar track record. It is evident, the Inhumans play a significant role in Agents of SHIELD, and in ample time, will play an even bigger role in the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe.
All this purely theory and has not been confirmed. Many fans hold Spider-Man near and dear to them, so the thought of changing his origin may offend some. Keep in mind; changes are made to the source material very often now, so keep an open mind to the possibility. I firmly believe this is the new direction for Marvel Studios first take for Spider-Man.
First lets make things clear. Sony dropped the ball. The Amazing Spider-Man franchise was decent, but ultimately did not last because it was made in a desperate attempt for the studio to preserve the rights. Now, with Marvel Studios having the rights reverted back to them in a capacity (in a combined effort with Sony), they can make the Spider-Man film we have all been waiting for. Marvel is well on their way to phase three of their films, and truth be told Spider-Man came back pretty late in the game. By making him an Inhuman, this could prove to be an easy, yet convenient way in introducing the character all while still making logical sense within the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.
In Agents of SHIELD, the Inhumans have been the focus of the second season. From the discovery of the diviner, to the transformation of Skye, to the mass spreading of terrigen crystals in the second season finale, Marvel has show they are confident in this property. Not only are they confident enough of this unpopular franchise that they are dedicating and entire film for them but they also have already planted huge seeds of this early in the universe. In the show, the idea of people having powers from these terrigen crystals has been shown and has been said to be a process that has been going on for several decades. The in the secret Inhuman city where Skye was training, the inhabitants left frequently. In some cases, people who did not undergo the mandatory procedures gained Inhuman powers with contact of the terrigen crystals. With the ending of the second season alluding to the television equivalent to the terrigen bomb in the comics, it is certain that not only will the super powered population increase drastically, but the Inhumans will also. This seems too convenient in the timeline when the rights to Spider-Man reverted back to Marvel. This could serve as a perfect gateway to introduce Spider-Man by simply stating that is how his powers originated. Making him a by-product of the terrigen fish oil pills would make logical sense seeing were the story is going.
In the past fifteen years, we have had five different Spider-Man films, made by two different directors, and played by two different actors. Not to mention one to many funeral scenes. Just saying, it isn’t a Spider-Man film without one. Anyway, in both of these reincarnations of the character we have seen his origin story. We as an audience who pay to see these films have had enough of these origins, and want to dive right into the story. There are various reasons for this, the first being, we want to see something new. Seeing the repetitive redundant story over and over gets bland. The second being, we want to spend as much time as we can in the new story. By making the new Spider-Man an Inhuman, what it would do is make a new, exciting, fresh take on his origin. Even the studios making these films have realized this. Kevin Feige has already gone out and said in interviews that they will, for the most part, be skipping over the origin, going straight for the story. Before you go insane, I am not saying Marvel should change the origin drastically. By drastically, I do not mean make Spider-Man completely different, dark, and strut down the street with an emo haircut dancing like John Trevolta in the opening of Saturday Night Fever. That’s not what I’m trying to get across. They could still incorporate every quintessential feature to the Spider-Man origin story, but make it cohesive with the current events in the universe. Key points such as Uncle Ben dying, or him learning to deal great power comes great responsibility, you can keep all that jazz. The only difference would be the way in which he receives his powers.
Now, you are thinking, well there is no need for Marvel to do this. Well in actuality, there is. It’s a brilliant move on there half. Think about this situation in a different perspective. By making Spider-Man an Inhuman, what this would be doing on a financial basses is bringing the world’s most profitable, and undoubtedly famous superhero property to an unfamiliar one, thus making it much more money and generate buzz. If Spider-Man were to be an Inhuman, when the films debuts in July 12
th, 2019 he will be in that, bringing in a substantial amount of money for the film that it would not have received if he had not been in it at all. Now who is to say Spider-Man or any other character would not show up regardless, but the fact of the matter is we would have had three years knowing his new origin, putting buzz around the Inhumans film as a whole, leading to much more profits and popularity.
Spider-Man being an Inhuman opens up so many new and interesting possibilities for the character. This could lead to new interactions with characters he would have likely had no connection to. It could lead into new foes, and over arching stories in the future. Plus, it could benefit having to explain the whole radioactive Spider. If they wanted, for those who find the getting bit by a Spider so necessary to the lore, they could set it up where Oscorp is tampering around with the Inhuman crystals, and begin doing trails injecting them into insects. That is a little more tedious and unnecessary, but an example of a way they could make it work. Making the new origin of Spider-Man be Peter Parker being by-product of the mass exposure from the terrigen crystals would be smarter, more interesting, and cohesive with the universe.
If Spider-Man were an Inhuman, they would not need to come right out of the gates saying it. It could be a total surprise. We will be first introduced to him already being Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War. Everybody wants it to be where we jump right into Spider-Man already being Spider-Man. The assumption throughout the course of the films would be a radioactive spider bit him, thus he got his powers. By the time the solo Spider-Man film comes out and his first appearance is well received by fans and critics alike, they will show his origin about him being affected by the terrigen crystals. It would show that one; Tom Holland is already a great Spider-Man that people love (If all goes well in Captain America: Civil War), and two, that it doesn’t ruin the core essential character of who Spider-Man is. At best, it serves to give new material, which works well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This may seem like a huge deviation to the origin and fans might be outraged. Lets not forget though, if this were to happen to Spider-Man, this would not be the first time something like this has happened to a comic book property. By now, we all know Marvel is not scared to alter the origins of their characters and or stories to best fit their ever-expanding universe. For example, Scarlett Witch, and Quick Silver had extensive changes to their backgrounds. Likewise with Ant-Man. For the most part, they all worked well making sense within the grand scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just recently, rumors have circulated around the web saying that in Captain America: Civil War Tony Stark will be giving Spider-Man his web shooters. If this is true, once again, Marvel will alter a key point of a character to better fit their story. Similarly, this could back up the idea of Spider-Mans arachnid powers coming from the terrigen crystals.
For those who still think the idea of Spider-Man being an Inhuman is ridiculous, it may not be as crazy as you think. In recent history, Spider-Man has teamed up with the Inhumans in Amazing Spider-Man Special #1, and Inhumans Special #1. Now, this may just seem like an ordinary team up, but could it be Marvel’s way of subtly trying to hint something? This could possibly be the case.
One of the important factors to the character of Peter Parker him being an outsider, someone who is rejected by people, and not accepted. Making him an Inhuman would not capture any of that right? Wrong. You would still be able to stay true to who Peter Parker is, and he could in fact add onto the struggle and discrimination that Inhumans face on day-to-day bases to his own. For example, in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man could represent the low leveled, street level of the super powered community, including the Inhumans. In Agents of SHIELD, there have been hints towards tensions brewing over so time within the Inhuman society, as well between them and the humans. This could be a great chance for Spider-Man to represent the people who are just like him. In addition, with the events that took place in Avengers: Age of Ultron, there is know doubt the super powered community is being looked down upon. The number of powered individuals and street leveled criminals and heroes alike are rising, and this could serve a good way for Spider-Man to be known by representing them.
A common idea in Spider-Mans story over the years and lore is people have been trying to replicate him. What makes Spider-Man unique is he is one of a kind. If they decide to make him an Inhuman, his genetics would be specific and only he would have them since Inhuman powers vary from individual to individual. No serum could be replicated from Oscorp to make a knock off Spider-Man, unless of course they get a hold of his blood and manage to make it work. Nevertheless, this still would stress the fact that he and his powers are unique. An idea that would be cool if Spider-Man were to be an Inhuman is alter Kraven The Hunter’s background and make him not just an exotic animal hunter, but an Inhuman hunter too.