By Megan Ruge, Co-Editor in Chief
In the last nine years, Disney has built itself yet another cinematic empire, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
“Spideman: Homecoming,” released in the summer of 2017, marked the first release of a Spiderman film by the Marvel namesake film company.
The film follows the story of the famous Peter Parker the way we know him, but instead of doing an origin film, which is tradition when giving a hero its own movie, the MCU decided to debut Parker in “Captain America: Civil War.”
“Homecoming” begins where “Civil War” ends. After fighting for team Iron Man, it is time for Parker to return to his life in New York City, fighting off pickpockets and car thieves. He is told not to bother the Avengers but that they will be in touch.
Parker then spends the remainder of the film waiting to hear from them, which he never really does.
In the meantime, Parker finds himself in the middle of a terrorist plot in which a local clean-up crew has taken to building weapons with the leftover alien technology brought down to earth by the Norse God Loki.
Reaching out to Tony Stark, Iron Man, proves to be useless, so Parker takes matters into his own hands. Along the way, he finds that things are not at all what they seem.
The film, appropriately titled “Homecoming,” was a smooth way to transition the hero into the MCU, essentially taking his place at “home” with Marvel. But acquiring Spider-man was definitely an uphill battle.
Capitalizing on the endless available print material that is Marvel comics, the MCU made its debut with the release of the first film, “Iron Man,” in 2008.
From there, the company built a series of films that connect and relate to one an- other in several ways. However, the company hit a speed bump in the plan after realizing that Sony had bought the rights to the fantastical webslinger known as Spider-man in 1999.
Sony released three Spiderman films staring Tobey Maguire as the masked “vigilante,” the first of which debuted in 2002.
Sony then decided to reboot the films in 2012 with actor Andrew Garfield as the hero. The film received a sequel and was in the works for a third film until Disney made Sony a deal that they couldn’t refuse and granted the Marvel Cinematic Universe the rights to a Spider-man story line.
The deal stated that Sony would receive all profits from Spiderman’s cinematic appearances.
The profits from “Spiderman: Homecoming” and its 2019 sequel all belong to Sony and the company will profit from the hero’s “Avengers” appearances.
This does not mean that the MCU pulled a short stick in this deal. In fact, Disney received all the rights to merchandising, so any action figures, hats, shirts and anything else you can stick the hero on and sell for profit is reserved for Disney.
Disney is now able to use the hero in films as long as it is with Sony’s knowledge and Sony can no longer create a film that centers around Spiderman.
This has easily opened the door for the upcoming “Avengers: Infinity War” in which Peter Parker will play a large role.
Overall, the film is one that has yet again drawn Marvel comic fans back in. Though the change in story surprised many, the film really brought a “real boy” feel to Spider-man and it made his transition into the Universe a smooth one.
The film’s unique perspective on the already household staple brought the hero into a new light for old fans and sparked a new flame for new ones. The movie really made an impact on the MCU and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
