(I wrote this post several weeks ago, so it’s a bit late to the party, but it’s my initial thoughts on the Spider-Man news, so I thought it was still worth posting. Comment with your thoughts about Marvel and Sony’s big news below!)
Hot off the press is the news that Sony and Marvel have reached an agreement about bringing Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s official: Spidey will be in Captain America: Civil War.
And all the nerds said, “AMEN!”
Peter Parker is key to the Civil War plot line, because he joins Stark’s side of the debate in his revealing himself as Spider-Man. (And then some plot-twisty things happen that I won’t go into because spoilers.)
Already, there has been a lot of speculation about an actor to play Peter. Some of the fans are calling for a re-cast. While I have my own personal opinion (ANDREW GARFIELD IS THE BEST THING TO HAPPEN TO SPIDER-MAN WHY ON EARTH WOULD ANYONE CHANGE HIM HE IS PERFECTION IT’D BE SO WEIRD TO HAVE ANOTHER RANDOM ACTOR SUDDENLY POP UP AS PETER WHAT EVEN), I think, if a re-cast is necessary, there are a few ways Marvel could do it.
Marvel has, in the past, been extremely unique in their marketing. I think a company that can pull off hiding the identity of a character in Age of Ultron (because, as far as I know, we still don’t know who Andy Serkis’ character is), and blame a trailer leak on Hydra can think of an amazing way to reveal the casting of Peter Parker.
Here’s how I think they should do it.
Age of Ultron ends, and the credits roll. Something awesome happens in the halfway-through-the-credits tag scene.
Moviegoers start to leave the theater… except for the true Marvel fans who know that there’s something else in store.
The screen darkens, then reveals Tony, sitting in his apartment, tinkering with something. Pepper walks in and tells Tony that someone is there to see him.
“I couldn’t get him to tell me who he is. He won’t go away.”
Tony smiles and tells Pepper to let him in, still focused on his gadget.
We hear a knock at the door. Stark looks up and starts talking, using several witty Tony-isms. “I’ve heard a lot about you, kid.” He wipes his hands on a cloth and looks up at the person – still behind the camera, still unrevealed to us – as he says, “Think you’re ready for something like this?”
“I know I am,” is the reply.
Tony grins and holds out his hand. “Glad to have you on my side, Spider-Man.”
The next shot is his hand extending forward, then being shaken by the still-unseen Spidey.
Stark makes a Tony-esque face and says, “So who are you, really?”
Then the screen goes black.
The actor who plays Peter shows up to all of the public events with his Spidey mask on – or, in the case of AoU, just shows up on the red carpet as one of the random, insanely lucky actors who get to go to events like that. (Think Sebastian Stan’s amazing excuse when he showed up at the CA:TWS premiere.)
Shooting CA:CW without disclosing the identity of the actor would be a challenge, but I’m sure Marvel can handle it.
The key moment of the reveal is the actual reveal in the movie – when Spidey reveals himself to the world.
It’d be perfect.
Get on it, Marvel.
feelsy feels 