Is Spider-Man on the Verge of Joining the Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Sony Pictures has a lot riding on its Spider-Man license. There are Amazing Spider-Man sequels, spinoffs featuring Venom and the Sinister Six, and the buzzy promise of the first superhero movie focusing on a female character. The day that Disney and Marvel Studios offers to write a giant check or share revenue with Sony to get Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the day all those plans disappear.

That day might not be very far away.

Over at Hitfix, Drew McWeeny has an awesome piece about how Disney and Marvel Studios are doing things that no other studio can right now with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Avengers was a huge accomplishment, one that Warner Bros. and Fox have eagerly tried to copy. The problem with that is that The Avengers was just the beginning of Marvel's plans. Over the next five years, McWeeny says, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is going to get "richer and weirder and much much larger." One new addition to that universe just might be Spider-Man.

While I can't get the confirmations I need to verify the story, I'm hearing that there are some very cool "Spider-Man" plans being discussed that would help Sony refocus their enormously important franchise while also opening up some connections in the onscreen Marvel movie universe that would blow fandom's minds. 

There's no love lost between Marvel and Fox right now, with Marvel killing off or drastically changing key characters that make up Fox's superhero universe right now. McWeeny thinks that not only are Marvel and Sony on friendly terms, but that they could be on the verge of bringing Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There's obviously a bigger story possibly coming, one that Hitfix can't confirm at the moment, so we're left to speculate on this one ourselves. One possible outcome is that Marvel and Sony make a deal, scrap the entire Andrew Garfield Amazing Spider-Man universe and let the webslinger become a full participant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That would be the second Spider-Man reboot in a very short period of time, though. We already saw Spider-Man fatigue with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 — would audiences really want to do the whole thing again?

Here's my theory: Everything about the Amazing Spider-Man cinematic universe remains the same. Sony can keep making Spider-Man movies in any way they want. When the day comes that Marvel Studios is ready to make whatever is looming past The Avengers 3 — Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet, the Secret War — Garfield's Spider-Man joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe through some classic alternate dimension travel. Spider-Man's no stranger to that, with the Spider-Verse about to launch in the comic books. This would allow Marvel Studios to tell a story that uses an untainted Spider-Man while Sony still gets to use that very same Spider-Man in a universe where the Avengers don't exist.

Adding Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be a huge, huge move. Everyone loves Iron Man, Captain America and Thor right now, but there's chatter that those favorites aren't going to be around as much as everyone has thought. Badass Digest reported on Sunday that The Avengers 3 will possibly feature Iron Man and several new Avengers. Robert Downey Jr.'s contract specifically ties the actor to The Avengers 3, but Marvel Studios has some flexibility when it comes to Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth. If there's something bigger coming after The Avengers 3, Marvel could save several of its key actors for that film.

And maybe have them star alongside Spider-Man ...