Andrew Garfield is out, all Sony plans are dead

Feb 10, 2015 10:59 GMT  ·  By
Spider-Man is back with Marvel, will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe very soon
   Spider-Man is back with Marvel, will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe very soon

Earlier this month, Sony Co-Chairwoman Amy Pascal stepped down from her position at the studio, saying she wanted to focus more on producing. The reality was probably that she was taking the fall for what was revealed in the Sony Hack of late last year.

Pascal is still with Sony, as head of her own production company, and as expected, the studio has already announced plans for the projects she championed most passionately while still in charge of everything. That includes the Spider-Man franchise, “The Amazing Spider-Man” with Andrew Garfield as Spidey / Peter Parker.  

Spider-Man moves to Marvel

The first two “Amazing Spider-Man” movies did well at the box office and even better with critics, but they were never the hits Pascal had promised they would be. Still, before the Sony Hack, the studio had greenlighted an entire spinoff franchise, in addition to the third installment in the franchise.

All that is now dead in the water: Andrew Garfield will never reprise the Spider-Man role again, and there will probably be no more “Sinister Six” or female Spider-Man movies. “Sinister Six” is still a possibility, but a faint one at the moment.

What will happen instead, as the press release sent from Marvel announces, is that Spidey will move to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Technically, all future Spider-Man films will still be Sony productions, but in reality, this webslinger will now be part of the same universe as the Avengers.

We should probably call this a reboot, and if we’re going to do that, we should also note that this is Spider-Man’s third theatrical revision in under 10 years. If there was a record for that, he’d get it.

This next Spider-Man will be produced by Marvel’s Kevin Feige with Amy Pascal. Director Marc Webb is most likely out of the picture as well, as is pretty much everyone else involved on the two “Amazing” Spidey movies.

When is the new Spider-Man coming?

This is where Marvel is getting evasive. “Under the deal, the new Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe,” the release says.

Spidey will be getting his own movie on July 28, 2017 and Marvel has already moved around all his other films from the Avengers and Thor franchises to make room for it. However, in typical Marvel fashion, the character will be introduced in another one of its films before that date.

That means that Spider-Man will be making a cameo either in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” or “Captain America: Civil War,” since these are the two films from already-established franchises coming out until that date.

“Age of Ultron” will be out this spring, and if Marvel already has a replacement for Garfield, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to shoot a few scenes to add in post-production, even in the week before theatrical release.

However, the deal is probably new, and they probably don’t have an actor locked in just yet. “Captain America: Civil War” will be out in May 2016, so that one is a safer bet.   

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