Spider-Man Almost Joined Marvel's 'Civil War'

Well, this is the most distressing thing I've heard all day. When Marvel announced that the third film in the Captain America franchise would be Captain America: Civil War, everyone lost their minds. Not just because Iron Man, aka Tony Stark, would be appearing in the film (for better or worse), but because of the possibility that Spider-Man might join Civil War as well. However, as the Spider-Man films are distributed by Sony and the Captain America films are distributed by Marvel Studios (despite both characters being owned by Marvel Comics — it's complicated), fans thought that they had to let that dream go. It turns out that Sony and Marvel Studios did discuss Spider-Man joining Civil War, and it just didn't work out.

Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man are all big players in the Civil War comic conflict, with Tony Stark taking one side, Steve Rogers taking the opposite side, and Peter Parker starting on one side and then joining the other. The arc even features Spider-Man unmasking himself to the world, which could have meant big future plots for the Amazing Spider-Man series, a game changer on par with the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. However, according to The Wall Street Journal, negotiations between Marvel Studios and Sony "eventually broke down" and the two franchises will continue to remain separate.

Of course, we've already answered the question of whether or not Spider-Man would be in Civil War. (That big "no" still haunts my dreams, you guys.) However, it's impossible to answer it without at least a mild edge of bitterness that the two studios didn't even try. Those of us who were building a wall of resentfulness against Sony or Marvel Studios will now find ourselves eating our words, because this email was apparently from as far back as October 30, and we were really, really close to this dream becoming a reality.

If that news makes the unfairness of it all worse for you instead of better, consider this. We might not be getting Spider-Man in civil war, but we do have several superhero movies coming up that include starring roles for actors of color, female superheros, and even queen actors. It's not a perfect replacement, as I continue to dream of a world where the Avengers and Spider-Man meet, but considering the severe lack of female superhero movies out there these days, let alone superhero movies starring people of color, then that's definitely something to get excited about.

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