The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a great collection of stories. Not only are the heroes of the MCU standalone but their strength is in their teamwork. Even the success of the MCU, to a great degree, comes from big team-ups. Their projects are ambitious and grand in scale. A world-ending threat seems real and stakes seem balanced when things like crossovers occur in movies. But sometimes Marvel misses obvious opportunities to use their own heroes. For example, there were 2 missed opportunities to use Spider-Man this year.
Now, don’t get us wrong, a lot of things depend on the budget of a show or movie. If it is a low investment project for the studio with a limited budget then they may not choose to hire expensive actors. Also, a show like Hawkeye may benefit from as little CGI as possible. This means that characters like Iron Man or Hulk who have computer-generated powers may not be a viable financial decision for the shoemakers. However, we can’t help but wonder if Marvel is shooting itself in the foot with this kind of thinking.
There was a flurry of Marvel Disney+ projects this year. Starting from WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we were bombarded with content. Hawkeye was supposed to be the final nail in the coffin of Phase IV after No Way Home and was meant to set us up for the holidays. But things have not panned out as we had previously hoped. Upon the announcement that Hawkeye would take place in New York, many fans hoped to see more Avengers getting involved in the Disney+ universe.
Missed Opportunities To Use Spider-Man in 2021
I mean, Hawkeye is badass and his action sequences are fun, but what fans really wanted to see was Spider-Man vs Kingpin. Since Spidey is a friendly neighborhood, his best confrontations always occur in dingy alleys against villains who are much more human than he is. Spidey has a habit of pulling his punches, he doesn’t want to break his opponent, just incapacitate them. These tactics would have worked wonderfully well in the Hakweye finale.
Similarly, the finale of Falcon and The Winter Soldier also took place in New York. It would have been amazing to see Tom Holland jumping in to help the falcon at the last moment. Spidey’s powers would have been invaluable in the altercation against the super soldiers. The finale would have been all the more epic. Even if The Falcon was supposed to be the main act, having Spidey as support would have elevated the story to true MCU levels.
But Marvel seems to be shying away from Spidey’s existence altogether. Although he is the protector of the streets of New York, we hardly ever see him on the street. We think the character is being wasted in the movie space. He belongs to the realm of Dinsey+ and OTT services where his chart tee could have a chance to properly how. Much like Barry Allen in the CW universe. Whether Marvel will choose to go in that direction or not is up to them. We can only hope for the best.
The Consequences
The consequences of not using Spider-Man in these shows will become apparent shortly. In the near future things will break and reality will collapse on itself in the Multiverse of Madness. When that happens we expect all of the MCU to start preparing for the multiverse war that is about to come. However, before that, we need to see Spidey grow into a true leader. For that, it would be nice to have him eradicate organized crime from New York. Marvel should think about using Spider-Man in the upcoming Echo series.
This will enable us to see him in his natural habitat and give him a chance to mature even when the stakes are relatively manageable. Not to mention we would kill to see a Daredevil and Spider-Man team-up. What is the worst that could happen with this idea? Tom Holland could get paid a little more and the Disney+ universe would have finally had some real skin in the game. Not to mention the fact that this will bring all the Netflix characters into the main universe and get them really for the multiversal war. Let us know what you think about this in the comments below.
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