14 Cinematic Questions We Demand To Have Answered in 2013
4. Will Sony and Marvel Begin An Avengers/Spider-Man Cross-Over?
Marvel are set to launch Phase 2 with Iron Man 3 next year, in the run up to the Avengers sequel in 2015, and while that time might pass quickly for some, it is an awfully long time in the world of movie news. Before that date a million rumours will surface, thousands of films will be green-lit, and an awful lot of new, important characters will appear in the Avengers universe.
I'm not strictly saying that Marvel need a cinematic event because of what DC have planned around their own tent-pole project, but Phase 2 needs something major to qualify the title Marvel have bestowed on it. This is a different chapter, and while Phase 1 had assemble as its buzz-word, based on the trajectory of conventional triptych narrative form, Phase 2 has to be where something is broken before it is resolved in the final stage. Phase 2 is Friction.
But even more than that, like any sequel, Phase 2 gives Marvel the opportunity to bring in new characters, and with a new successful Spider-Man franchise out there on the market, there is both motive and opportunity to bring a character who has linked up with the Avengers at canon to do so on screen. But will Marvel willingly bring another ego into that already bulging Avengers pot?
It's just a shame there probably won't ever be the possibility of Ultimate Avengers team-member Wolverine being able to join up, given Fox's likely stance on a team-up.