8 Reasons Why Spider-Man Joining The Avengers Is A Bad Idea (For Marvel)

3. Their Box Office Takings Won't Be That Improved

"This is the right decision for the franchise, for our business, for Marvel, and for the fans." said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment in the official announcement. Now while there's no disagreement that Spider-Man was being run into the ground by Sony, at the behest of long-standing fans, it's not quite sure what Marvel are getting out of this. Well, they're getting Spider-Man back, although not really; they don't have much more executive control than they did on The Amazing Spider-Man. The motivation could cynically be said to be money, but is that really the case? Is Spider-Man really the draw he once was? Last year, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was bested at the worldwide box office by a continuity heavy X-Men yarn, a Captain America sequel and a movie based on Guardians Of The Galaxy. Guardians Of The Freaking Galaxy? If Peter Parker's innate draw can't get past some crummy marketing to beat Andy from Parks and Rec you have to question if he's all that. Marvel already have a dominant stake in the superhero box office - Avengers: Age Of Ultron could pass $2 billion worldwide when it's released and few eye-lids would bat - to the point where the added appeal of Spider-Man is surely negligible.