Spider-Man joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Spider-Man will appear alongside other Marvel favourites
Spider-Man will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe under a new deal between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Studios.
This means that Spider-Man will potentially feature alongside favourites such as Iron Man, Captain America and Thor in future films.
The character is set to make an appearance in an "unspecified Marvel Cinematic Universe movie" coming soon, while the next Spider-Man film will be launched on July 28th 2017.
Reports in the US suggest that Andrew Garfield will not reprise his role as the web-slinger as the companies look for a new creative direction for the franchise.
However Sony will continue to finance, distribute, own and have final creative control of all Spider-Man films.
To accommodate for the new Spider-Man film, Disney – owner of Marvel Studios – has pushed back some of its other Marvel titles, including 'Thor: Raganorak' from 28th July 2017 to 3rd November 2017 and 'Captain Marvel' to November 2018.
"Spider-Man is one of Marvel's great characters, beloved around the world," said Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company.
“We're thrilled to work with Sony Pictures to bring the iconic web-slinger into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which opens up fantastic new opportunities for storytelling and franchise building."
Doug Belgrad, president of Sony Pictures Entertainment said: "Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios share a love for the characters in the Spider-Man universe and have a long, successful history of working together.
"This new level of collaboration is the perfect way to take Peter Parker's story into the future."
Spider-Man is the most successful franchise in the history of Sony Pictures, with the five films grossing more than £2.6bn worldwide.
Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment