CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

‘Captain America: Civil War’ is the 13th film the in Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first in Phase Three of Marvel’s ongoing release schedule. As a result, ‘Civil War’ not only builds on the 12 films that preceded it, but introduces a host of new characters and new conflicts to the MCU.

Phase Three will add Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man to the MCU after hinting at these characters for some time in other films. Stephen Strange was mentioned in ‘Winter Soldier’ while ‘Ant Man’ spent a good deal of energy to set up its next chapter in Evangeline Lily’s Wasp. This all seems very interesting, but what’s puzzling me is the introduction of Spider-Man.

Spider Man has his own Universe, his own set of (rather rubbish) films. To me, adding him to the current MCU seems like an unnecessary gimmick that lowers the tone significantly. It seems to be taking its lead from the not-so-great example of ‘Batman v Superman’ and we all know how that’s turned out (Hello darkness my old friend…). Spider-Man’s films have so far been separate to the MCU, as none of the previous 12 movies or TV shows have mentioned him at all. Now, all of a sudden, he’s popped up rather tardily in Phase Three, and even has a new film planned for next year. Many of you out there might have some insight into why this is, and very different opinions to mine. Please help me out here, because while I’m not a fan of Spider-Man, maybe you can explain to me why he should be added to the MCU when he was doing just fine out on his own (well, not really, but anyway).