Undeterred by that small loss, Marvel went ahead with an even larger proposal and one that Sony appeared to be strongly considering, at least for a little while. Rather than simply trying to compete with the quality and success of Marvel's own movies, why not simply hand the reigns back over to them? They clearly know what they're doing, after all, and giving them creative control doesn't mean they get all the profits either. Just a certain percentage of them. In one particular email Sony Pictures president Doug Belgrad discusses the possibility of a whole new trilogy of films following the third Amazing Spider-Man, produced by Marvel, with creative control remaining with Sony. Which sounds like it might be the wrong way around, but with Marvel mostly being able to call the shots could very well make for the perfect on-screen Spidey that viewers have been craving ever since the early noughties. Of course that wound up getting nixed too, but the fact that they're even considering it implies the door is still open to future negotiations on the matter. In fact whilst a lot of the pitches and ideas featured in those emails and recent announcements could very well have been turned down, it shows Sony are actually trying to do something interesting with the franchise. There may be life in the old wallcrawler after all.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
