Doctor Strange ended the weekend as one of Marvel’s biggest successes to date. Not only did it bring in $84.9 million domestically, it now has a worldwide total of $325.3 million and counting. That is an incredible feat for a character like Doctor Strange who is as niche of a character as it gets in Marvel’s pantheon. While this no doubt proves how powerful Marvel’s brand is in the mainstream Doctor Strange can very well guarantee Spider-Man’s continued big screen future.
It’s no secret that we are going to be getting yet another Spider-Man movie with Peter Parker under the mask. Tom Holland did a fantastic job winning fans over in Civil War. That said, there is no doubt there is an aura of fatigue looming over the Spider-Man franchise. At this point Spider-Man: Homecoming will be the second reboot and sixth movie in franchises history within the last 15 years. Though the fatigue may not affect the upcoming movie, after the eventual sequel no quip from Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will keep the aura of fatigue from catching up with the franchise.
So how can Marvel elevate the fatigue fans will have with Spider-Man? The answer rests with this past weekend’s release of Doctor Strange. In Doctor Strange we had a lot of new aspects from the comic books into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Most importantly it introduced the existence of the Multiverse within the universe.
The idea of the Multiverse existing opens up many opportunities for future storytelling. Most importantly it opens the door up for Spider-Man’s future. Now Marvel and Sony can work on using Homecoming and it sequel, along with the Avengers movies, as the greatest Spider-Man. By doing so Marvel can set-up the final Spider-Man movie in the latest trilogy to be the biggest one in the franchise yet: Spider-Verse.
That’s right the Spider-Man story recently written by Dan Slott can now be worked into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Because for better or worse Marvel and Sony have established several different versions of the characters existing. With Doctor Strange introducing the Multiverse it can be easily explained that all of the version of Spider-Man exist somewhere in the Multiverse. And what better way to cap off a new Spider-Man trilogy with the biggest story to date in the characters history.
In order to make this work it will mean bringing back Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire as the title characters but that can be done. Story-wise it can work if Andrew, Toby and Tom are the anchors of Spider-Verse since they have played three very different versions of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Bringing these three together will also help activate the nostalgia the mainstream audience has for Spider-Man and give the character a massive Avengers-size storyline all his own.
Through their interaction from Spider-Verse Marvel can then branch off with the introduction of other Spider-Men/Women. And by introducing other versions Spider-Man in a big crossover Marvel and Sony can avoid retelling those characters origin stories. It also provides an exit for Peter Parker, who could possibly make a huge sacrifice in Spider-Verse. This would then segway into the long-requested Miles Morales as Spider-Man or Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman who can take over the franchise in a passing of the torch moment, something we haven’t seen happen in any comic book movie thus far.
Now there is no certainty on where the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be by the time we can even have Spider-Verse take place. But with so many Spider-Man movies featuring Peter Parker under the mask the franchise will quickly be in need for freshening up. Luckily Doctor Strange has introduced a way to keep the Spider-Man franchise around for a long time with the Multiverse.
What do you think of Spider-Verse being translated to the big screen? Can Andrew Garfield, Toby Maguire and Tom Holland co-exist in one movie? Let us know in the comments below.