Let’s Talk About Spider-Man
News hit this week that Spider-Man may, indeed, be out of the MCU. But have the reactions been a bit too over the top?
“Isn’t it amazing how quickly people can turn against you?”
These words — from great American philosopher President Thomas J. Whitmore — were spoken in the cinematic masterpiece Independence Day. That movie, as a whole, has nearly-exactly-and-precisely nothing to do with the main topic at hand. However, the quote itself kind of does, plus it gave me a good excuse to sneak Independence Day into an article about Spider-Man. Because I’m Crazy like that.
Anyways, this has been quite the week for my beloved Spider-Man. On Monday, in semi-related news, Sony announced that they had acquired Insomniac Games — the studio behind last year’s outstanding PS4-exlcusive Spider-Man game, as well as many other classics like the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance series — which was both shocking and expected at the same time. Insomniac has long been my favorite gaming developer of all time, and finally seeing them join the Playstation family in an official way was pretty cool.
But then…chaos strucketh with thou most devasting a hand.
After Disney and Sony failed to come to terms on a deal, Spider-Man has been potentially removed from the MCU. The world then proceeded to look up and shout “Save us”, and Sony calmly whispered back “No”, followed by a “Maybe.” It’s a real bummer, as the character’s inclusion in the MCU has been met with overwhelming positivity and just feels right, man (especially after the events that occurred in Spider-Man: Far From Home, which I won’t spoil because DUDE that first post-credits scene was one of the most epic moments I’ve witnessed in pop culture this year).
It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one that many people are Mad Online at the news, prompting a #SaveSpidey hashtag on Twitter, a boycott of the PS4, and even Jeremy Renner, of all people, to voice their displeasure at the news. Another point of contention people seem to be making has to do with Sony’s history of screwing up the character whenever they make his movies (e.g. Spider-Man 3, Amazing Spider-Man 2).
Now a few days later, I’ve had some time to process the news and formulate my own succinct, factually sound, and intellectually-profound opinion on the matter. After all, letting huge bombshell developments gestate for a bit is what is needed in times like this. I never overreact, I never falter, and I never settle; there is only the next mission (no idea what I’m saying right now, I honestly forgot how to write. Stick with me while I ramble).
So here it is.
Here’s my take to rule them all:
Sony should take their bag and run.
That’s right, I said the damn thing. And I say that due to a couple of very important factors. First, though, I’d like to preface this by saying I’m genuinely a fan of how Spider-Man has been used in the MCU. Seeing his interactions with all the other heroes reminds me of the days I spent as a kid reading the Ultimate Spider-Man or New Avengers comics — and especially so with the former, which to this day remains my favorite iteration of the character. Peter Parker, by my approximation, is at his best when he’s shown to be exactly what he is: a kid. Often times, he’s given more responsibility and burden than a kid should ever be asked of, which is what makes his journey so profoundly emotional.
While the MCU has given Spider-Man the second life he sorely needed after Sony famously botched their own aforementioned film projects, I find it incredibly shortsighted for people to ignore how much good Sony has also produced. The original two Sam Raimi-directed Spidey movies from the early 2000s are fantastic. They were some of the first superhero movies (on the Marvel side of things) to truly break out and showcase how comic book characters were capable of so much on the big screen. Yes, the third film was a bit of disaster largely due to Sony’s handling of it, and the two Amazing Spider-Man films starring Andrew Garfield were mediocre at best (but you know what wasn’t mediocre? Garfield and Emma Stone’s chemistry in both of those movies! It’s almost like they were actually dating at the time or something).
There was also last year’s Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-Verse which was, well, divine.
A lot of this complaining that neglects the good Sony has done is eerily reminiscent of the X-Men situation with Fox. The first two X-Men films of the early 2000s, X-Men: First Class + Days of Future Past, both Deadpool films, and Logan (oh, how absolutely stunning that movie is) somehow get overshadowed by the shortcomings of X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the most recent X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
I don’t say all of this to completely excuse the mistakes that both Sony and Fox have made, but I do think it emphasizes how presumptuous people are being about Anyone But Disney’s ability to create quality superhero movies. It has been done before, and at times done better.
Even more disturbingly, however, is how perfectly content people seem to be with Disney acquiring even more properties. After their blockbuster purchase of Fox last year, you’d think that people would be more reticent to the idea of The Mouse completely securing the movie rights to one of the more popular fictional characters in the world. BUT NO. Instead, you get fools being all like:
(and ignoring some, uh, damning evidence like this)
This is all to say that monopolies are Not Good, my friends. While I do love Spidey’s inclusion in the MCU, and I’d trust Disney more than Sony to do right by him, let’s not ignore this. Let’s also not ignore that artistic creativity isn’t exactly at its best when the same person, or company, is the only one delivering us the art, so stop overreacting. Stop pretending Disney is the only one that can make good superhero movies.
