SPIDEY IS HOME: Marvel and Sony Bring Spider-Man Into Marvel Cinematic Universe

Spider-Man is home. Marvel Studios announced on Monday night that it was partnering with Sony Pictures to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and co-produce future Spider-Man movies. The announcement comes after months of speculation that the two studios were working on a deal to add Spider-Man to the Avengers' world.

Under the deal, Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel Cinematic Universe installment (Hmm, could it be Captain America: Civil War?) before having his own solo film scheduled to open on July 28, 2017. Marvel's Kevin Feige (the architect of the Cinematic Universe) will partner with Sony's Amy Pascal to co-produce the movie. Marvel promises "a new creative direction for the web slinger," which sadly means Andrew Garfield's time playing the webslinger has come to an end. Sony will "continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films" while the two studios are also "also exploring opportunities to integrate characters from the MCU into future Spider-Man films."

This is incredibly exciting news. Despite being arguably the most bankable superhero in cinema, Spider-Man's past three movies have been mismanaged. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios has turned into a juggernaut. With Spider-Man now under the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony should see a solid return on its investment in Spider-Man movies, while Marvel Studios now has one of its most popular characters ready to step into the void that will eventually be created by Robert Downey Jr.'s departure from the megafranchise.

One interesting part of Marvel's late-night announcement is that the first solo Spider-Man movie under this partnership will open on July 28, 2017, which was previously announced as the release date for Thor: Ragnarok. Obviously Marvel Studios isn't going to compete against itself, so Marvel announced a slew of new release dates for its Phase Three schedule.

Thor: Ragnarok will now open on Nov. 3, 2017, which pushes back Black Panther to July 6, 2018. That date was originally held by Captain Marvel, which will now open on Nov. 2, 2018 ... which in turn delays Inhumans to July 12, 2019. The two biggest tweaks here are that Black Panther now opening after Avengers: Infinity War — Part I and Inhumans is opening after Avengers: Infinity War — Part II. With Black Panther's first solo film coming after the third Avengers movie, I wonder if that'll affect his role in that film or vice versa. And how will following Infinity War — Part II change Inhumans? Is it now the first film of Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?