Now some of you may ask why this is a big deal. Wasn't Spiderman always a Marvel character? Why be excited for Spiderman being possibly rebooted? What role would he play in the MCU?
Luckily, I'm here to give you a quick run down of these questions to inform you of the inevitable, to educate you over the extraordinary and to accustom you to the amazing.
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I thought Spiderman was a Marvel character already. Why is it exciting that he's joining the MCU?
Let's get the first question out of the way.
The original Spiderman trilogy and the Amazing Spiderman film franchise has always been owned by Sony Pictures. Long before Marvel had it's very own film studio where the Avengers assembled on the big screen, the rights to create and distribute the world of Spiderman was in Sony Picture's hands.
Of course, the movies hold a very special place in my nerdy little heart. Spiderman 1 was the first super hero movie that I feel got it 'right'. Some creative liberties here and there, but an overall solid first foray into the world of comic books. The second movie took everything that was great about the first and turned it up a notch. The third movie...well, let's not talk about the third movie...sure it holds a special place in my heart...as an abomination on the Spiderman name. The Amazing Spiderman movies have been pretty decent in my honest opinion. I enjoy Andrew Garfield as Spiderman/Peter Parker, I think the chemistry between Gwen Stacey and Peter Parker was done perfectly, and I absolutely LOVE the costume designs. Villains and overall story, however, left a lot to be desired unfortunately, and that's something that needs to be addressed, especially with a character that has such a recognizable rogue gallery.
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| Perfect |
However, after watching every single MCU movie released, I couldn't help but wonder what Marvel could do with their biggest character ever. What could Marvel accomplish with Spiderman under their creative wing? It all seemed like a pipe dream.
That is, until the massive email hack that Sony Pictures suffered. This hack revealed that Sony was indeed in talks with Marvel over the selling of the Spiderman movie franchise rights. These talks would ultimately lead to nothing but the disappointment of fans all over.
So imagine our collective delight when we heard that the deal ACTUALLY went through! EXCELSIOR!! And on top of that, Spiderman is actually going to show up in a movie before his solo film set to release July 10th 2017!
And there's only one movie that he HAS to show up in: Captain America 3: Civil War.
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| Continue to use The Amazing Spiderman 2 costume and I'll be very pleased |
So what exactly is Civil War and why are you creaming all over it?
Ah yes, here comes my favourite part of the overall explanation.The Marvel Civil War was a comic event that was going on from 2006 - 2007. The basic summary is that the heroes of the Marvel Universe duke it out amongst themselves over some sensitive political issues regarding the freedoms of super human individuals.
After several city blocks are destroyed by the villain Nitro (due to the attempted intervention of a young group of superheroes called 'The New Heroes') the US government decided to create the Super Human Registration Act in an attempt to control those with super powers. The act dictates that if you want to continue fighting crime, you must sign this act, reveal your secret identity and register as an 'official' superhero that answers to the Government.
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| mmm...yup, that's an explosion alright. Michael Bay would be proud. |
The interesting thing about the Super Human Registration Act, and the overall narrative of Civil War, is that it is a satirical plot over the controversial Patriot Act in the United States and of the actions of the Bush administration during the War on Terror.
Anyways, the Super Human Registration Act isn't received positively by Captain America, who believes that by giving up their secret identity, the heroes risk the lives of those they care about and their own personal well-being. He doesn't believe that this is an act that should be followed nor is it an act that is within the realm of freedom. As such, Captain America separates himself from the government, working with other Anti-Registration heroes (which include people like Wolverine, Invisible Woman, Luke Cage and Falcon) to fight crime underground, hidden from the government. This essentially makes Captain America and his allies fugitives from the law.
On the other hand, the Pro-registration side has the support of Tony Stark, who, after seeing the damage that Nitro had caused (killing thousands of people, including school children, believes that super humans must be controlled or else they will lead to more destruction. The once very anti-government Tony Stark agrees to sign up with the Super Human Registration Act, working as an enforcer for the government to bring in anyone who is Anti-Registration. On Iron Mans side we have names like Ant-Man, Mr. Fantastic, and She-Hulk, all of which already have incredibly public identities, so they don't lose much by signing the act. However, one Pro-Registration hero whose alter ego is his greatest secret signs it.
Yes, Spiderman is a Pro-Registration hero. Incredibly surprising considering that Spiderman has managed to keep his identity secret forever, never revealing it in fear of his loved ones being harmed by his enormous rogue gallery. However, there's a reason for this:
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| Just look at all the dudes that want to kill Spidey! |
Peter Parker and Tony Stark, leading up to Civil War, had developed a sort of mentor/student relationship, sometimes even bordering on father/son. Both characters were incredibly close, talking about science, helping each other out. Tony even takes Peter under his wing as his prodigy, further strengthening their relationship. Hell, Tony even develops a special Iron Spider suit for Peter, complete with some kick ass legs and Stark technology that allow Spiderman to further his combat efficiency. As such, this mutual respect between these two characters leads to Peter siding with Tony, even though he was completely ready to get rid of everything and flee the country with Mary Jane and Aunt May. Another push to Spiderman revealing his identity was that other Pro-Registration heroes reasoned with Peter, saying that it was about time he gained some recognition for his fine work as Spiderman. On top of that, Tony even tells Peter that he'll help him in any way he can to protect his loved ones and to ensure that Peter will gain the full support of the government when he needs it.
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| This suit is bad ass...TOO BAD IT'S FULL OF LIES |
Unfortunately, Tony Stark is a massive prick.
But Tony Stark is such a cool guy! How can he be a prick?
I'm the kind of guy that understands Tony Stark for who he really is. A prick.Hell, even Stan Lee admitted that he created Tony Stark as on a bet that he could make a character so despicable that it would be impossible to love him.Yet, he manages to make an alcoholic arms dealer playboy likable simply by giving him a kick ass suit. Most people are willing to look past most of this because...well...he's Iron Man. Civil War, on the other hand, really makes it difficult for even the most die hard fans continue to like him.
To cut things short, Peter reveals his identity on live television. Everyone now knows that your friendly neighborhood Spiderman was actually just the nerdy, humble lad Peter Parker. This lead to James Jonah Jameson firing Peter and published incredibly harsh articles about him, understandable since Jonah, at this point, also treated Peter like a son. He felt betrayed. The revelation also leads to multiple villains attacking Peter during his everyday life. With his greatest fear realized, Peter flees his home and brings Aunt May and Mary Jane with him to live in Stark Tower, under the surveillance and protection of Tony Stark.
During his time at Stark Tower, Peter eventually learns that Tony had been monitoring him with programs implanted in the Iron Spider Suit, even learning about his Spider Sense, a secret that he kept fro Stark. Stark also takes Peter on a tour of the special prison he had created in the Negative Zone where Anti-Registration members are kept. Peter witnesses the inhumane treatment that his former allies are undergoing. It was, in every sense, like a concentration camp. Oh, and to make things worse, Tony Stark had also hired a group of super villains to form the team The Thunderbolts to hunt down Anti-Registration members.
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| Basically the Marvel equivalent of the SS. Top row: Jack O' Lantern, Lady Death Strike, Jester, Song Bird Bottom row: Venom, Bullseye, Taskmaster |
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| Sieg...Heil? |
Yeah, very Hitler-like indeed.
Eventually, Peter plans to escape from Stark Tower with Aunt May and Mary Jane, but as they try to leave, Stark intervenes with the Iron Man suit in full opertion, fighting Peter and almost beating him to death. How? well, Stark even installed a fail safe program in the Iron Suit to incapacitate Spiderman whenever he needed, allowing him to gain the upper hand in the fight. During the chaos, Aunt May and Mary Jane escape together. Fortunately, Spiderman successfully escapes through the sewers, evading Iron Man and his death.
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| Iron Man please...no cheating |
A bloody and nearly dead Spiderman is found by The Punisher, who brings him to Captain America and the Anti-Registration hideout. There, Spiderman is nursed back to health and provides intel for the Anti-Registration side, even committing himself fully to the cause.
To cut things short, Peter meets up with Aunt May and Mary Jane at a Motel under secrecy. Here, an assassin sent by The Kingpin attempts to shoot Peter with a sniper. Fortunately, Peter dodges the bullet due to his Spider Sense. Unfortunately, Aunt May is shot and left in critical condition. Left with nowhere to turn and no money (Anti-Registration forces are penniless as well), a desperate Peter turns to Tony Stark for help.
Once again, Tony Stark is a massive prick.
Instead of helping Peter, Stark attempts to apprehend him in an ensuing fight. However, this time around, Peter wins by a large margin and escapes. The events that detail Aunt May's condition are in the mini series One More Day.
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| Honestly, at her age...dying by gun shot was the last thing I expected from her |
But what about Captain America? Isn't Civil War a Captain America movie?
Yes, it is a Captain America movie. Up to this point, I've only explained the Spiderman/Iron Man relationship and pretty much left Cap on the sidelines...until now of course.
Captain America holds the most important role in the story in my opinion, because it's not only a story of regaining freedom, but also a story of how Captain America dies.
Yeah, Cap dies in Civil War, all thanks to that massive prick, Tony Stark.
Up to this point, Captain America has been working with his newly formed Secret Avengers, fighting crime and avoiding Pro-Registration forces. All of this has been going quite well, with some obvious losses here and there. But when Spiderman joins the Anti-Registration heroes, he provides intel on Stark Tower and the prison in the Negative Zone. Determined to free his fellow heroes, Cap plans an assault on the prison, hoping to free everyone and regain footing in the Civil War.
Cap and the Anti-Registration heroes attack the prison only to be intervened by the Pro-Registration heroes. A massive fight ensues that eventually leads to the city streets among civilians. During this time, a clone of Thor created by Stark (named Ragnarok) is used on the Anti-Registration forces, even killing some of them.
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| Welp. |
Oh yeah, at this time, Thor is not present in the Civil War, but when he finds out that Stark had used his DNA without his permission...well...let's just say that Iron Man got what was coming to him.
As the battle rages on, Captain America gains the upper hand on Iron Man and is about to deliver a finishing blow. He is then stopped by a bunch of onlooking civilians, civilians who believe that Iron Man is doing the right thing. This leads to Cap looking over the destruction that both sides have caused, sees that his friends and former allies are all suffering. This isn't something that he wants and it's not something he can bear. He realizes that he was no longer fighting for those he swore to protect, so out of the interest of everyone, Captain America surrenders to the Pro-Registration forces, ending the Civil War.
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| Sigh...god damn it. |
It doesn't QUITE end there though...Captain America reveals himself as Steve Rogers and is being taking to court to stand trial for his actions against the government. However, on his way to the court house, he is assassinated by the villain Cross Bones and by a brain washed Sharon Carter. All of which was orchestrated by The Red Skull (hail hydra).
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So what happens after that?
Well, Cap is dead, the Secret Avengers are still active, Peter Parker has a dying Aunt May to deal with, Iron Man becomes the director of S.H.I.E.L.D due to his actions during the Civl War, and the heroes are still split down the middle...
Civil War doesn't have a happy ending.
But it DOES set up for some incredibly interesting events in the MCU, such as a new team of Avengers being led by Iron Man and Bucky (the Winter Soldier) taking up Caps mantle. We'll also have Ms Marvel, Black Panther, Spiderman, Ant-Man and Doctor Strange coming together for a possible team up with the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Civil War in the MCU has endless possibilities.
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| Alright, I'll admit...I enjoy this cover. |
But how will they deal with Spidermans continuity in the MCU?
This is also another simply question to answer.
How I think Spiderman will be handled is that his origin story will be skipped entirely. Spiderman, like Batman, always has the same origin and it has never changed. This is one of the main reasons why the upcoming DC movie Batman V Superman will also skip Batmans origin story, the audience is already aware of how these heroes BECOME who they are.
On top of that, the Amazing Spiderman movies have already established the Gwen Stacey/Peter Parker relationship perfectly. If they simply mention that entire history in the MCU without having to go through it once more, it would be perfectly fine. allowing the continuity of Spiderman to continue throughout the MCU without having to include needless story arcs that the audience is already aware of. This also allows for a new version of Mary Jane to finally appear as well, especially since she was supposed to show up in The Amazing Spiderman 3.
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| If this happened...it would be hilarious and I would be fine with it |
The only thing left would be to establish villains and whether or not Spiderman has been...well...Spiderman for long. If he has been Spiderman for long, where was he during the invasion of New York?
Personally, I think the time frame for Spiderman to start as Spiderman after the events of New York are totally fine as there's plenty of time between Avengers and Civil War for Spiderman to have a decent string of events take place and for him to establish himself as a hero in New York City.
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| This is only here because I find it funny that the Justice League didn't want Spiderman either. |
That's all good and everything, but what about Iron Man and Cap? What reason would they have to fight during Civil War? The movie, I mean.
Once again, easily answerable.
I believe the upcoming Age of Ultron film will set the stage for Civil War. Why? Well this video here can help explain some of it.
Basically, we have Stark and Cap arguing about something regarding the team. Cap doesn't like that some of his team mates are still witholding information from him and Stark believes that the end goal of the Avengers is to not fight anymore.
From wha we know from Age of Ultron, it seems like Stark creates Ultron. For what purpose? well...to finish the fight.
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| "I'm going to tear you apart...from the inside" Get it? |
We all know Stark suffers from PTSD after the invasion of New York, this is a theme that revolves around Iron Man 3. It's possible that the creation of Ultron was an attempt to create an artificial intelligence that will work as a proxy for the Avengers, fighting their battles for them. Unfortunately, it goes rogue and causes a bunch of shit.
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| The Hulk Buster Armor...signs of Iron Man being ready to take on his own team mates perhaps? |
On top of that, we also see The Hulk rampage throughout a city, most likely controlled by Scarlett Witch. Something I forgot to mention during my Civil War synopsis is that, prior to the Super Human Registration Act, The Hulk had rampaged throughout New York City and caused the death of at least 28 people. This spurs the act to quickly be accepted by the government and by civilians simply because there have been previous events that showed the danger of super powered individuals.
I apologize for the quality, only hand camera recorded footage from Comic Con is available.
I apologize for the quality, only hand camera recorded footage from Comic Con is available.
So we have a rampaging Hulk, Tony Stark hiding information, and a rogue AI. All of this will, I believe, lead to Tony taking up the Super Human Registration Act in the Civil War movie...and if that teaser clip is anything to go by (which I'm sure it will) Cap will have none of it.
Where are the X-Men in all this then?
Good question. Up to this point, I've only mentioned Wolverine when it comes to the X-Men.
You see, prior to Civil War, there was this event called House of M. Here, the Scarlet Witch suffers a mental breakdown and manages to create an alternate reality in which all the Marvel heroes are engulfed in. This reality has Mutants in power, creating a racist society in which Humans are labelled as genetically inferior. The head of this world,of course, is Magneto and his family.
Long story short, the aftermath of this event leads to reality being brought back to normal...at a severe cost.
You see, the population of mutants has dropped from several millions to only a few hundred. Many mutants have awoken to find that they no longer have their abilities...including Magneto.
So,when the events of Civil War take place, the X-Men are at a severe disadvantage, and anti-mutant sentiment has been stronger than ever. Remaining Mutants reside at the Xavier Institute and have even voiced support for the Super Human Registration Act, simply out of their own interests of not gaining any more negative publicity.
Over the course of the Civil War, Cyclops eventually declares the X-Men and all mutants to be neutral. Of course, Wolverine won't have any of this...because...well...he's Wolverine.
Wolverine has always had a high amount of respect for Captain America. I believe it's because they both went through World War II together and Cap has always been an ally to Wolverine one way or another. In fact, Cap is probably one of the very few authority figures Wolverine even remotely respects. This essentially explains his position on siding with the Anti-Registration forces.
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| YEEEAH! |
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| Wolverine also trusts Spiderman, Nick Fury and Jean Grey |
Are you done talking?
Yes, more or less done.
Sorry, but this general story arc takes a long time to explain, especially when it comes to the overall Civil War story line.
However, I hope you enjoyed reading all about it and can now understand the massive importance of Spiderman joining the MCU.
There are other stories to share though, stuff like Aunt May and how she survives, the aftermath of Caps death, and where future Spiderman films can be taken.
For now though, I'll end it here.
Thanks for reading once again and I hope I've helped you Nerd it up a Notch.
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| With luck, this may become a real fight scene in the movie! |
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