Could Spider-Man Be In The Avengers 2 ?

Though in the universe of Marvel comics Spider-Man has teamed up with the people we know as the Avengers-- Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, that whole crew-- to fight great evil, at the movies it's not nearly as simple. The movie rights to Spider-Man belong to Sony, as they have for over 10 years, while Marvel Studios (owned by Disney) has the rights to the rest of the Avengers team. That's what happens when you sell your characters to movie studios, then eventually decide to get into making movies yourself-- the studios are going to fight to hang on to the characters they already own, and Marvel, even though it created all these guys, will have to make do with what's left.

But with The Avengers still setting all kinds of box office records, and The Amazing Spider-Man preparing for its own run at glory next week, plenty of comic book fans are wondering if the studios might not be able to work out their differences and reunite Spidey with the Avengers crew after all. That kind of hope is undoubtedly what led to the story at The Daily Mail, where a paparazzi photo of Andrew Garfield carrying a bunch of Avengers comics has been turned into a rumor that Spider-Man might make an appearance in The Avengers 2. See a cropped version of the image below:



This isn't the first time wishful Spidey thinking has turned into a news story, but this time around, the rumors might actually be on to something. Not that there are actually plans to wrap Spider-Man into The Avengers 2, much less negotiations between Sony and Disney/Marvel to hand over their marquee character, but that it really makes sense this time. It's a win-win for both sides, especially if The Amazing Spider-Man is a hit-- you connect the two audiences, you beef up the superpowers for what's already the biggest superhero franchise in the world, and you please a whole lot of comic book fans who have wanted this to happen for ages. I'm not going to pretend that Andrew Garfield's stack of comic books actually means anything, but maybe in a few years we'll be able to see it as an accidental sign of things to come.