It may have been a long time coming, but there was no doubting the impact of Spider-Man‘s homecoming when Marvel and Sony reached an agreement in the latter stages of 2014 to delegate the webslinger’s future screentime between both parties. And while many expected at least a cameo appearance in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron, it’s clear that Marvel is keeping its ace card for a future time.
However, that wasn’t always the case. Long before the studio gained control over Spidey, Kevin Feige and the creative team had mapped out plans for Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with some permutations including Spider-Man as a key player, while others pushed the shared universe forward without his involvement. Of course, it’s not uncommon for studios – and indeed writers – to map out multiple iterations of any given story before settling on one that fits best, but it’s interesting to hear what Feige had to share given the sheer size and scope of the MCU.
In a recent interview with /Film, Feige opened up about the creative process and how happy he was that all of the heroic pieces fell into place in due time.
As you might have imagined, that had been in the works for a long, long, long, long time. And we had, as we often do, mapped out various alternatives if things don’t happen. So we had a plan how it would continue without him and we have a plan how now it will continue with him. I wouldn’t say it was “drastic” but we were certainly happy when it all came together.
Without a post-credits sequence to call its own, it appears as though Avengers: Age of Ultron won’t force the world-building element too much, and many already assume that Marvel is saving the introduction of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man until the arrival of Civil War next year.
