A Geeky Viewpoint

Now that Sony and Marvel Studios have signed an agreement what is next up on the agenda for Marvel Studios.






 

• Part 1 - How does Warner Bros/DC Studios respond?
• Part 1 - Sony's Spider-Man Cinematic Universe
• Part 2 - 20th Century Fox
• Part 3 - Random Thoughts

 

How does Warner Bros./DC Studios respond? 

I really do not know what to expect here. 
When newspapers all over the world are talking about the great plans of your rival its has to be nerve racking; considering how little attention you are getting in the first place.   Made worse by the fact a major casting in The Suicide Squad was printed on the bottom corner or page 12 of a recent Hollywood Newspaper.  

What's surprising is how little advertising in general we are seeing from WB for all of their movies.   Warner Bros just laid-off in excess of 1,000 people last week over the entirety of the media empire.   The company is rumored to be loosing cash at a record rate, there have been calls to spin off several subsidiaries and just shutdown others.      

 

Who is cast as the next Spider-Man?
I have been a fairly vocal critic of The Amazing Spider-Man story arc, basically since Marc Webb was announced as director.  With all that venom spilled I will still say the one thing the team at Sony got right was casting.   Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, Dennis Leary and so on were pretty exceptional in their roles, and there was phenomenal chemistry in their onscreen performances.   It is to bad the story stunk to the high heavens.
Like many critics I am disappointed that Andrew Garfield is being replaced, but there is a glimmer of hope.

Spider-Man was two (plus) different people in the Ultimate Universe, Peter Parker and Miles Morales.   There is a decent chance that Sony/Marvel will look for a Black Latino to play Miles Morales leaving the door open for Andrew Garfield return.   How much of a chance is currently debatable at the moment.   Insiders are suggesting that Marvel and Sony would really like to use Miles Morales character, the problem is many of the leaked candidates so far are of the Scrawny glow in the dark white 20-something actors.     

If Miles Morales is the next Spider-Man will Peter Parker Return?
Regardless of I how I feel as a fan I honestly believe that there is only a small percentage chance that Sony/Marvel will choose the Miles Morales (or any of the dozen or other variants); maybe 25% at most.   For the sake of argument, however, let assume they do choose Miles Morales, the answer is yes. 
The leaked emails from Sony suggest that multiple versions of Spider-Man were (are) being considered with a different core audience suggested for each one. 

As a follow up bonus question:  Why Andrew Garfield and not Tobey Maguire?
Well um er ahh. Tobey Maguire will is, um er, too old, sort of kind of.  
Here is how I would work Tobey Maguire into the story, May "Mayday" Parker, aka Spider-Girl is the daughter of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.    Mayday Parker, like Jessica Drew and Cindy Moon are not a part of the Spider-Man IP controlled by Sony.
Personally I felt Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield made good Peter Parkers for very different reasons, I wish that Tobey would have gotten to work with better VX technology and Andrew better stories.  But at this stage Tobey is 39 going of 40 years old and while I believe he could integrate into the Avengers better he is too old for a stand alone film.

Will Marvel Studios be involved in the Spider-Man Universe spin-off movies?
This one is pretty easy to answer, yes at least in a limited way.
The Sinister Six and Venom are being reworked so that they in theory belong in the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe.  This doesn't mean they will be canon, rather the story and timeline will fit the MCU timeline in the same way that The Amazing Spider-Man was a part of the MCU timeline.
The Glass Ceiling Project, female lead set in the Spider-Man Universe is another story.   Currently it looks like multiple characters form the Marvel Cinematic Universe IP may be popping up in this film including the lead which tends to me to believe this will be more canon than the other two projects.  
I should note that there is well placed rumor that Angelina Jolie will be involved in this project as either director or actress. 

What about the Spider-Man, Marvel, 20th Century Fox crossover rumor?
This one is complicated.  
Rumors of a potential Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends themed movie trended upwards prior to the great Sony Hack of 2014.   The hack did not provide much validation to these rumors, yet they continued to grow in volume as well as detail. 
In the  cartoons the Amazing friends were Bobby Drake, the mutant Ice-Man and Angelica Jones, the mutant Firestar.   As an aside Firestar replaced the Human Torch Johnny Storm due to a licensing dispute in 1980.   
The rumors on the movie go like this, Spider-Man, Firestar and Tarene (Thor Girl/Tara Olsen) as roommates in college at Empire State University who are dealing with Dr. Doom plot.  Yeap just crossed all of the IPs.  
Two months ago I would have said very little chance of that happening, maybe less than zero, but I am guessing we might be in the double digits as a percentage chance; however with speculation of Dr. Doom from the latest origin story of Fantastic Four it probably would have a different villain.