Spider-Man could have made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe much earlier, though not with Tom Holland. Over the course of 23 films, the MCU has introduced various characters from Marvel Comics, both heroes and villains, but many others haven’t been able to join this interconnected universe due to rights issues. Spider-Man, for example, couldn’t join the Avengers until Captain America: Civil War in 2016, after Marvel Studios and Sony reached a deal that allowed both studios to use the character (under certain rules, of course).

The MCU’s Spider-Man is portrayed by Tom Holland, and since his introduction in Captain America: Civil War – though there was a subtle reference to him in Ant-Man – he has appeared in four more films: Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home, with a third solo film scheduled for a 2021 release. But the web-slinger could have joined the MCU much earlier, had there not been obstacles in the way.

Different directors had intentions of including Spider-Man or referencing him in their films, but this wasn’t possible for various reasons.

All The Times Spider-Man Almost Joined The MCU

An often forgotten entry in the MCU is Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk, which had Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Leterrier wanted to add a Spider-Man cameo in the scene at the university, where Bruce meets with Samuel Sterns. According to him (via MTV), this was intended to be Empire State University, aka the school Peter Parker goes to, and he wanted a Tobey Maguire cameo, but this wasn’t possible as Sony didn’t let them use the university’s name, and getting Maguire to reprise his role wasn’t possible either.

Spider-Man was later referenced in an alternate version of the post-credits scene in Iron Man, where Nick Fury visits Tony Stark to talk to him about “the Avenger Initiative”. In it, Fury tells Stark that “as if Gamma accidents, radioactive bug bites and assorted mutants weren’t enough” he still had to deal with Stark’s actions as Iron Man. Another reference to Spider-Man’s world, though this time the one from Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man, was almost included in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers. Oscorp Tower was supposed to be added to New York City’s skyline, connecting both universes, but the model wasn’t ready in time and therefore wasn’t included.

Plans to add Spider-Man to the MCU didn’t stop there, and Whedon wanted to include him and Captain Marvel at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, but this wasn’t possible due to Sony holding the rights to the character. In the end, and even though it took him a bit long, it was for the better that Marvel Studios and Sony took their time to reach an agreement, as it’s now hard to imagine anyone else as the MCU’s Spider-Man, and his arc would have probably been entirely different had he been introduced earlier.

Next: Sony and Marvel’s NEW Spider-Man Deal Explained

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