Scott's Pet Peeve #7510

Scott Hardie | September 4, 2019
This discussion has spoilers for Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far from Home.

With the news that Sony and Disney are no longer partnering on any future Spider-Man film projects, which still could be undone but I assume for sake of discussion is permanent, I've seen lots and lots and lots of comments online about how this wrecks the future of the MCU.

No, it does not.

First, people keep saying that this wrecks Avengers 5, because Spider-Man was going to be at the center of that project. What makes so many people think that there's going to be another Avengers movie? Endgame was really damn final. Nearly everything about it was designed to feel like the last Avengers movie, down to the literal sign-offs in the closing credits. The Avengers are mostly dead or retired; even their headquarters is destroyed. The series is clearly over! Sure, Marvel will probably have more big crossover movies, something like Secret Wars or Annihilation, but I would be shocked if Disney announced a fifth Avengers film any time soon. The Avengers roster in the comics has changed many times, but at its heart were usually key members like Iron Man and Captain America and Vision, who are no longer there. Making an "Avengers" movie starring Spider-Man and Shang-Chi and Captain Marvel would be like making an "X-Men" movie starring Thor and Ant-Man; they just don't belong. And if a fifth Avengers movie happened, why do people think Spider-Man would be essential to it, anyway? The character on screen has been at best a minor help to much more important and powerful characters. I can't see him being a leader or even a true peer, not for some time.

Second, people keep saying that the twist ending of Far from Home (which I detest) demands follow-up in the MCU because it's world-changing. How, exactly? Most of the other heroes know Spider-Man's identity already; he went around introducing himself by name in Infinity War and Endgame. The civilian world mostly won't care about his identity and won't be portrayed anyway. I've seen comments that the story demands a powerful mage like Dr. Strange or Wanda Maximoff to undo his identity being revealed, but that story really could go a hundred different ways, including the reveal not being undone. I think the MCU could happily go on never mentioning Peter Parker on screen again and it would be just fine. Key world-altering events on TV in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Defenders have never been mentioned in the films and who cares?

Third, people keep saying that this wrecks Peter's relationships with other MCU characters. Who, precisely? Iron Man is gone. Nick Fury is in deep space. Peter was a mere acquaintance of other heroes. The only remaining MCU character that he had any relationship with is Happy Hogan, a relationship that does not exactly demand closure. I doubt that Jon Favreau will ever play that character again in any film, but I certainly don't need to see the two of them together again.

I'm not necessarily cheering the corporate split. Spider-Man remains my favorite Marvel hero and I certainly want to see more of him. But I also loathe Sony's reckless, shitty mishandling of the character, so maybe it's better if he's isolated in a separate film sandbox where Sony can abuse him all they want.

Whatever happens, I just want to stop seeing such off-base comments and articles in the wake of this split. It wouldn't bug me if there wasn't so much of it out there.

Evie Totty | September 8, 2019
Well - you know how people are. I also hated the JJJ twist/part of the film. Made no sense to me. It was as if they hid it from Feige and edited it in lol.

Of course everything will go on (just like we'll all get over the losses of IM and CA and to a lesser degree, BW) I just wish they'd stayed together. I don't want to see Tom Holland as S-M as a three and done (hell, Garfield didn't even make it to three)

And it's fiction. The writers can 'undo' it any way they want. Including simple forensics to prove the video was edited.

That is pretty funny folks thinking that Peter Parker would lead The Avengers though. I cannot imagine it. Even a grown-up, married with child Peter.

So yeah - bottom line, I'm upset. So I'm hoping that they renegotiate the deal to bring Feige back to help.

But if they don't, here's a tip for Sony: ONE BAD GUY. ONE.

Scott Hardie | September 8, 2019
Haha, yes. I doubt Sony will take that advice, but it's good advice.

Way back in the Tobey Maguire years, I used to think that two villains was the right number per picture, if one was the real villain that drove the plot, and the other was only around for one action scene at the beginning. Back then, audiences had to wait a longer time to get to the action scenes, so opening the movie with a scene where Spidey foils a bank robbery or something, unrelated to the rest of the plot (like the opening action scene of James Bond films), would satisfy that desire. Plus, some of Spidey's villains are great for action scenes but couldn't possibly shoulder a whole movie, like Rhino and Scorpion and (so I thought back then) Vulture.

Then this happened, and this happened, and I can't endorse that idea any more.