As anyone who’s anyone, or anyone who pays attention to news about superheroes (so probably just me and four others in the school), knows Spider-Man shall be making appearances in the MCU  (Marvel Cinematic Universe) films.  Yay, woohoo, three cheers, roll on snare dru- wait, stop celebrating.  Are we sure this is a good idea? Look at the track record for MCU movies: spotless.  Now look at the Spider-Man movies: not quite as impressive.  Furthermore, would Spidey even mesh with the MCU or would he stick out like a red, white, and blue…and black thumb?

The fact of the matter is that Spider-Man doesn’t mesh with the rest of Marvel in a number of ways.  All of the heroes in Marvel are celebrated for protecting the public from maniacal evil doers, while Spider-Man on the other hand is hated and made to look like a villain for doing the exact same thing.  How is an audience to react when in the same movie you have people clamoring and cheering for Iron Man and Captain America, while simultaneously booing and throwing trash at Spider-Man?  Jordan Petto said it best; “Spider-Man and the X-Men are out of place in Marvel because they are treated differently from the rest of the world. Maybe that’s why they’re most successful when they are separate from the rest of the Marvel omniverse”.  Apparently in the Marvel world getting super powers from space radiation or being a god is cool but if you were bit by a radioactive spider or born like that then should be hated and feared.

There are many dangers associated with making a film about  beloved characters. Bryan Singer was a huge Superman fan and knew nothing about X-Men; he ended up making a horrible Superman movie and a bunch of great X-Men movies. This is because when making the Superman movie he put what he want to see on the screen,  whereas during X-Men he put what he thought others would want to see.  Given how many people love Spider-Man it is very possible for a similar mistake to occur.

Spider-Man will also most likely take up more than his fair share of screentime and resources. Would we have gotten to see obscure characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy if Marvel had the rights to Spider-Man? There’s a reason he has had five movies and most of the other characters of the Marvel Universe have had 0. This is already been seen through Marvel pushing up the release of many of their other projects by six months to prioritize Spider-Man.  As Petto said “I swear if they replace Black Panther with him in Civil Wat I will urgghh”.  My other interviee agreed “I would rather the studio give other heros, we haven’t seen, a chance before ‘Mr I’ve had 5 movies and two franchises’”.

Am I saying that Marvel we utilize Spider-Man poorly? Not at all, however there is a huge potential for them to lose sight of things just because they got their golden goose back.  Maybe everything will turn out perfectly and Donald Glover can finally have a chance with the role.

(Pictured: Donald Glover for Spider-Man)