Why Marvel’s Spider-Man Will Be More Than a Trilogy

By Avik Basak

Well, it was a highly celebrated news among comic book fans, when Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures announced that they will share the rights of Spider-Man in 2015, allowing Marvel’s flagship character to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). While Sony continued to distribute and finance his solo outings with inputs from Marvel, the Disney owned studio got to use him in the giant crossover films.

Sequels to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 were cancelled and the franchise was rebooted with the universally loved, Spider-Man: Homecoming, undoubtedly providing us with the best iteration of the wall-crawler till date in Tom Holland. Though, we saw Spidey dust off in Avengers: Infinity War, A sequel to Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home has already started filming with most of the original cast returning.

Now, we know that Marvel likes to tell stories for each character in trilogies, such as the Iron Man trilogy, Captain America trilogy and the Thor trilogy. Most of these heroes are unlikely to get a fourth solo outing as the MCU is expanding to include new characters. So, the question arises, will this rebooted Spider-Man series be just a trilogy like most of the MCU franchises as well? Will Spidey’s MCU solo journey end after the third film hits the screen?

The answer is a big ‘NO’ and here is why:

Sony Will Not Stop Even If Marvel Wants To

Former Sony Pictures Entertainment chairperson, Amy Pascal and Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige

Let’s for a second pretend that Marvel wants to discontinue making solo Spider-Man films after a trilogy to make way for new characters in the MCU. Will Sony oblige? No way. If you have followed the movie franchises that Sony has been putting forward in the recent times, then you would know that most of them are not doing very well, at least not as good as their Spider-Man series, especially after they shared the rights with Marvel. As I have already mentioned, Spider-Man: Homecoming was loved by everyone and our beloved friendly neighbourhood hero has always been a golden goose for Sony. So, there is not an alternate reality which exists, where they would willingly stop producing these films, unless of course if the financial condition of the studio worsens even more than what it is right now. Otherwise, they will just cancel the deal and reboot the franchise once again, which will be messy and no one, certainly not Marvel would want that.

He Is the Youngest Character There, Hence He Can Go On

If you are a devoted follower of the MCU, then you must know that Spider-Man is a unique character compared to the other superheroes in that universe. Peter Parker is a teenager and Tom Holland can play him easily for a decade or more without Marvel needing to worry about his age. While on the other hand, most of the other big names in the MCU are middle-aged and have to bow out at a certain point in the near future if not immediately. Hence, it will not make sense if they stop at a trilogy after introducing such a younger version of Peter Parker, which he was at the beginning, in the comics.

Miles Morales Is Teased, Hence His Character Has to Be Used

Well, if you do not know who Miles Morales is, then let me give you a rough idea. Miles is a half Puerto Rican and half African-American kid who also receives Spider-like abilities, pretty much in the same way as Peter does, and takes on the mantle of Spider-Man after the latter retires or drops dead. An animation film called, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will be released by Sony this Christmas which has Miles as the main protagonist.

Now, in the MCU too, Miles has been teased. Remember Donald Glover’s character Aaron Davis in Homecoming. In the comics, Davis is the uncle of Miles Morales and in the movie too, he mentioned a nephew who lives in New York. Other than that, Tom Holland also commented a while ago that he wants Miles in the MCU and he would love his Peter to play a mentor to him. Hence, Miles Morales will definitely be in the MCU and it might happen after 5 to 6 years from now at the earliest, as Peter himself needs to grow up before he can shift to a mentor-like character. It also hints that this iteration of the web-slinger will last more than just three solo movies.

Peter’s Character Will Evolve

As I have already mentioned, Peter is still in his early days as a superhero, hence there is plenty of room for his character to evolve. It will be quite interesting to see how he faces the new challenges that a normal grown-up faces every day while maintaining his status as Spidey. Moreover, during the production of Homecoming, Marvel Studios president and the creator of MCU, Kevin Feige drew inspiration from Harry Potter and said he wants each film to cover a school year for Peter. So, it is quite possible that we will see the future films covering each college year as well when Peter will finally graduate High School after the potential third movie.

We Need to See How an Adult Peter Works in the MCU

I do not know about you but I am pretty interested in seeing how an adult Peter will fit into the ever-changing MCU. It will be fun to see him solving big crisis and problems all by himself when he will not have a Tony Stark to look up to. We have seen adult versions of Peter Parker in the comics and in the earlier iterations, where both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield portrayed him as an adult but it will be the first time when he will be sharing the screen with other heroes as a grown-up man. Who knows, maybe we will see him leading the future teams of the Avengers someday.

Whatever the reason may be, it is obvious that Spider-Man will stay in the MCU for the foreseeable future. As long as the movies keep churning in big money, I do not think either Marvel or Sony will have any problem in making them. What do you think? Tell me in the comments section below.