Spider-Man

Since the news that Spider-Man would be joining The Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we couldn't help but wonder what that was going to look like. It was a possibility that many movie fans had hoped for for years, but were told was never going to happen. We didn't even let our minds think of what could be. Now that it's actually going to happen, our minds are reeling. What will it look like to have Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye share the screen with Spider-Man? Well, you can get an idea with this awesome new Marvel movie mashup.

It was the news we’d all be hoping and wishing and waiting for: last night, Marvel officially announced that they’ve reached an agreement with Sony for a Spider-Man crossover, which could also allow for MCU characters to crossover into Spidey’s own films. On top of that, Marvel is teaming up with Sony for a new ‘Spider-Man’ movie, to hit theaters in 2017. But who will play the web-slinger? As predicted, it won’t be Andrew Garfield. We’ve got a little more info on Marvel and Sony’s plans, which shed even more optimistic light on this very positive (and super exciting!) news.

By now you already know that Spider-Man is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as part of a new deal between Marvel and Sony. (By now you’ve also “SQUEEEE!”d about fifty times.) But this pact has ramifications beyond just the Wall-Crawler’s cinematic future. With Sony putting a new solo ‘Spider-Man’ movie on the release calendar for July 28, 2017, that’s necessitated some shuffling of Marvel’s own upcoming movies.

It was one of the most enticing bits of news to come out of the Sony e-mail hack: Marvel and Sony had deep discussions about introducing Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel badly wanted Spider-Man to be a part of 'Captain America: Civil War', but despite the best intentions from all parties, a deal was never struck and progress was reset back to square one. But, has hope been restored? A new report suggests that Marvel and Sony returned to the negotiating table and have struck a deal for Spidey to make his spectacular debut in 'Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1'.

Tis the season for studios to release holiday-themed videos and e-cards featuring some of your favorite movie characters, and so far we’ve seen animated holiday greeting videos for ‘The Babadook,’ ‘Hotel Transylvania 2,’ and even SpongeBob Squarepants. But this new holiday video from Marvel takes things to a whole other level: it’s a stop-motion short featuring the villainous Thanos, who disguises himself as Santa for his latest evil plan … and then it sort of backfires.

For anyone who remembers the days when just one Spider-Man movie seemed an impossible dream, the above infographic is an astonishing representation of how comic book superheroes now dominate popular entertainment. ComicsAlliance’s own graphics maestro Dylan Todd put together this timeline that reveals what the next six years of superhero movies look like, with some dates and titles still to be announced. The graphic will be updated as new information is released.

Just yesterday, we heard the very sad and strange tale of acrimony that currently exists between Marvel and Fox, the studio that owns the 'X-Men' and 'Fantastic Four' movie rights. It will very likely be a cold day in hell by the time we ever see the likes of Iron Man and Wolverine pair up on the big screen (regardless of what Hugh Jackman says), but is it possible that The Avengers could actually be crossing over with another superhero from another universe? Namely, The Amazing Spider-Man?

You may have already noticed that I'm a pretty big fan of going really deep into the origins and minutiae of my favorite characters. That's one of the reasons that I really appreciate what ToyBountyHunters has been doing with their in-depth series on the origins of the massive, long-running Super Sentai series, the franchise that gave us the source material for our American Power Rangers. They spend a lot of time discussing the origins and development of the series, an as someone who really likes that stuff, it's fascinating. The same goes for their latest video, the third part of their retrospective, where they turn their attention to the connection between Marvel Comics and the development of Super Sentai -- and while I already knew all about the tokusatsu series about Spider-Man -- known colloquially as Japanese Spider-Man -- there's a lot in there that I wasn't familiar with, like how Battle Fever J started out as a Captain America show.

As fans debate what superheroine should get a solo movie from Marvel Studios, it would appear that Sony is looking to beat the Disney superhero factory to the punch using a Marvel character. According to a Deadline report, Sony Pictures is planning to release a movie in its Spider-Man franchise led by a woman, though it's not clear which character will be front-and center. The movie would see release in 2017.

After erecting a statue of Spider-Man in a South Korean shopping center, artist Eunsuk Yoo met stiff resistance from the people who run it. It seems they took a long, hard look at the spectacular piece after suspicions were aroused about its suitability. The statue has now been yanked off, despite being impressively hung on that wall for almost a year. Yoo may feel he got the shaft, but one hopes he understands the thrust of the mall's decision. It's mainly because the statue has a giant tumescent penis and people were starting to get weirded out.