Oh Ned, when he’s pressed he comes up with some of the strangest explanation and the quickest, most knee-jerk reactions that you could hope for? Night Monkey? It does make sense from a strange standpoint but at the same time it’s enough to earn a good laugh in a movie that was marginally better than Homecoming. Sam Warner of Digital Spy is among the many that might want to really stomp and shout about this matter, but so far the removal is still creating mixed feelings. In a big way the issue with this movie and the reason why some people aren’t really starting an uproar about Spider-Man leaving the MCU is that he’s got such awesome enemies, but they don’t seem to put to the best use. The Vulture and Mysterio are both great villains since they have such massive potential, and Mysterio was used in a way that was technologically impressive. His entire scheme was rather petty when it was laid out since it amounted to Beck having a giant temper tantrum and bringing a bunch of like-minded people along for the ride since they too were convinced that they hated their former boss, Tony Stark. The downside of this line of thinking of course is that despite the technical aspects being great and the contingency plan being absolutely effective in some regard, it’s still somewhat childish to think that Beck couldn’t handle his own emotions. Even for a comic book villain that’s kind of petty.
But the fact that Spider-Man is out of the MCU now seems like a perfect time to shake your head and wonder just why they would leave it like this. Roger Cheng of CNet continues to make that point by listing off the things that truly need an explanation after the sequel. It almost feels as though Sony pulled the rug out from beneath the MCU, or took their ball and went home for their own reasons. Even the prospect of buying the webslinger back doesn’t seem like it will happen anytime soon, since Sony seems pretty adamant about keeping Spider-Man firmly in their camp. But in the MCU that leaves a big question as to what’s going to happen now that one of the most iconic heroes is no longer in use and was left with a massive accusation levied against him. Is he just going to disappear? Is the Marvel universe going to act like he was never there to start with? Or is Sony going to come to their senses before too much is messed up and allow Marvel to continue to use one of the most dynamic characters around? It’s pretty obvious that we won’t be seeing a character named Night Monkey unless it’s in joke clips such as this. It’s funny and justified, don’t get me wrong on that count, but the fact that Sony is acting like a disappointed kid that just wants to pack up the game and leave is kind of amusing really.
It’s enough to wonder what’s going to happen now. There are plenty of heroes that are coming up in the MCU and some that have been there for a while that are still going strong. Plus, Disney’s streaming channel is going to introduce even more so it’s safe to assume that his absence won’t really make that big of a difference. But given that Thor is on his way out, Captain America is now gone, and Iron Man is gone, with successors on the way save for Iron Man, it’s enough to think that Spidey might actually be a loss that will be felt in one way or another. Perhaps before the next big crossover we’ll see the wallcrawler return after another round of wheeling and dealing with Sony. That doesn’t seem entirely likely but it could happen, right? Night Monkey is a joke at best and not something that will be made possible, but there has to be some type of character that can take his place. Shang-Chi is coming, but that doesn’t seem like enough. Maybe if Daredevil was given enough of a chance on the big screen again, without Ben Affleck, it might work. Maybe the Punisher could be made into a big screen movie, or Nova, or anyone that’s had something to do with Spider-Man in a positive way. Sony doesn’t have the rights to a lot of characters, but again, having firm hold of Spider-Man might be enough to trip up the story moving forward.
At this point it’s more than a little frustrating how the superhero movies are planned out since one might think that it would be more beneficial to work together rather than say ‘this is ours and that’s yours and you can’t use ours just because’. There’s more to it of course but the general feeling is that the MCU finally took Spider-Man and used him in a way that was successful where Sony failed with five different movies by comparison. The Maguire years weren’t too bad since up until the third movie things weren’t going too bad, but they still paled next to what Holland has done since he’s been included far more in the MCU and was a stronger hero that was finally part of something bigger. Ellie Harrison of the Independent is pretty firm in her article that it won’t happen, but one can hope that Sony will come to their senses.
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