Superhero movies have been dominating the box office for about a decade at this point. However, "The Avengers" has changed the game. Not only did the film become a massive success but it paid off Marvel's gamble of creating a single cinematic universe for the characters to exist in.
Marvel brought the sense of unity and scale found in its comic books to the big screen in a way few would have thought possible only a few years ago. However, the crossover came very close to being even bigger.
Latino-Review learned that Marvel and Sony came extremely close to integrating elements of the upcoming film "The Amazing Spider-Man" into "The Avengers." And by extremely close the article states that it was basically a done deal but the timing just didn't work out.
Before all of the comic book fans lose their minds, it was not going to be as huge as Spider-Man actually appearing in "The Avengers." The plan was for something much more subtle. Specifically, the Oscorp building, where Spider-Man gains his powers, was going to be added to the Manhattan skyline of "The Avengers."
This might seem like no big deal but the implications would have been vast. It would have established that, even though they weren't directly interacting, the characters in "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Avengers" were occupying the same cinematic universe.
The inclusion of the Oscorp building would have been a very tiny step to be sure, but there's no reason to think it couldn't have led to further, more involved integration down the line. In the comic books, Spider-Man has been an off and on member of the Avengers for years, but before this news broke there was no real hope of that ever happening on film.
It shouldn't be seen as a totally missed opportunity yet. Both parties basically agreed to do it. What caused it to not pan out was the timing.
By the time the final design for the Oscorp building was rendered for the movie's Manhattan skyline, "The Avengers" had already completed filming. Had the structure been ready a little bit sooner, it could have easily been added into the finished film. With this news now breaking, one has to wonder if it will sneak its way into the DVD & Blu-ray release of "The Avengers."
There are quite a few key Marvel characters currently under the control of other studios. In addition to Sony controlling Spider-Man, there's 20th Century Fox, which has the film rights to the X-Men, Daredevil, and the Fantastic Four.
"X-Men" has created a history on film too involved to be integrated into "The Avengers," but both "Fantastic Four" and "Daredevil" are set in New York City and are due for reboots soon. It's probably wishful thinking that Fox will be as open to collaboration as Sony appears to be, but it's not unprecedented. If the parties can come to agreement, a massive crossover on the scale of Bugs Bunny sharing the screen with Mickey Mouse in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" could be coming down the line.
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