Why isn't Spiderman in the Avengers?

+23 votes
asked Feb 27, 2018 in Entertainment by Ryspodii (700 points)
edited Apr 4, 2018 by Kris

I love all the superheroes Marvel comic books bring us, but my favorite is Spiderman. I was excited to watch the Avengers movie but disappointed to discover that Spiderman had no role in it. I thought Spiderman was a part of the Avengers, so why isn’t he in the Avengers movie?

3 Answers

+27 votes
answered Feb 28, 2019 by Antonio (720 points)
edited Apr 13, 2019
Someone tells me there simply isn't enough spider-related bandwidth. How so? Hasn’t he appeared as part of The Avengers in Marvel comic books? Then why isn't Spiderman in the Avengers? I guess it’s just the same: profit talks! But it doesn’t make sense, if Sony can share Spiderman, they can get plenty of profits as well, without investing and producing a movie themselves. Don’t understand what’s going on in their mind.
+24 votes
answered Mar 5, 2019 by hayley (580 points)
edited Jul 14, 2019

Okay, firstly, the film rights, TV rights and comic rights are all different.

There is nothing wrong with the characters co-existing in the comics, Wolverine, Cap, Spider-man, etc. These are all owned by Marvel comics.

They have always been there. That may never change anytime soon. Since they are all owned by Marvin Comics, each of the crossover can happen or has happened since the creation of each character (Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Human Torch, and Namor).

Coming to TV rights, all the rights to all Marvel's characters were bought by Disney, which can be used just as they are being used in the comics. For instance, Hulk has teamed up with Spider-Man in XD's Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon and can still do so any day. As far as these animated TV films are concerned, it is right to assume that Disney now has absolute control over the characters as well, just like Lionsgate did before them. This goes on to prove that Disney will be allowed to do a Civil War TV movie whenever they feel like doing so.

Now enters the film rights. This is where most people get confused the most. Several years ago, most of Marvel Comics sold off several of their character's rights to different recording studios, like Fox, Universal, and Sony. Because the Spider-Man and X-Men films were unbelievably successful, Marvel Comics opened their film studio known as Marvel Studios. Recently, Marvel Studios got their film rights to Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. These were previously owned solely by Artisan, though they never did anything meaningful with them, so Marvel had to get them back. They equally re-obtained Namor and Hulk, who previously were under the name, Universal Studios. With these unique characters returned to the control of Marvel Studios, it becomes possible and easy, not only to produce and Iron Man movie, but also to have Iron Man, Thor and Hulk in one film, without anyone getting a law suit. Now that was great. The dream, however, became a reality when in 2012, an honest to God Avenger film that does not suck was produced.

It wasn't possible for Marvel Studios to retrieve all their rights with works like Spider-Man and X-Men doing so well at Sony and Fox respectively. Sony and Fox wouldn't dream of giving up the rights to these works for anything in the world. If Spider-Man ever meet Captain America in the Avengers movie, Marvel and Disney would be sued to their last dime because he has become Sony's property.

There are, however, some exceptions here. For instance, the characters Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were members of the Avengers for a long time and also belonged to the X-Men, which means they can be used by both Marvel and Disney. Though they never say why, but they are prohibited from discussing mutants, Magneto or the X-Men. While in an X-Men movie, they are never allowed to talk about the Avengers, Iron Man, or Hulk.

If after several years, Fox fails to make a movie without any of these guys, the rights naturally go back to Marvel. Fox cares about the huge financial worth and potentials of these characters and won't let them go until people stop paying to see them. This was exactly what happened with the Punisher.

+1 vote
answered Jul 7, 2018 by Jeanie (570 points)
edited Jan 27, 2019
Ah, poor Spiderman, aka Peter Parker. Created by Stan Lee and drawn by artist Steve Ditko, he almost never even made it into print. Publisher Martin Goodman thought the readership would be uncomfortable with reading about spiders. Fortunately for the millions of Spidey fans, though, through a quirk of fate, he came to superhero life in 1962. So why wasn’t Spiderman included in the Avengers movie?

Technically, Spiderman is a part of the Avengers. He joined the group of superheroes in 1990. He was a reserve, however. Later in 2005, Spiderman helped found the New Avengers and he became a permanent part of the Avengers in 2010.

The reason he is not in the movie boils down to business. The Avengers, the Guardians, and Marvel itself are all owned by Disney. Sony, however, holds the rights to Spiderman, so for right now anyway, Spiderman swings alone. Is there a possibility that someday in the future the two companies may consider a joint effort where Spiderman can participate in an Avengers movie? Fans can only hope.
commented Jul 31, 2015 by BertRamaciot (140 points)
Now I know why Spider-Man wasn't in the Avengers
Welcome to Instant Answer, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community.
...