Update: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Spider-Man will make his Marvel debut in Captain America: Civil War (which makes a lot of sense). Andrew Garfield will not reprise the role but Sony’s Sinister Six movie remains in active development.

After months of ridiculous rumours about Sony’s increasingly insane and desperate plans for the Spider-Man franchise, it appears that they have finally decided to step back and give the fans what they want: they are bringing him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a big announcement this week, Marvel and Sony have confirmed that the webslinger will appear in an unnamed upcoming Marvel film before getting his own solo movie to be co-produced by Marvel’s Kevin Feige along with Sony’s Amy Pascal (who recently announced she would be stepping down as Sony Pictures chairman). Sony will still “finance, distribute, own and have final creative control” of the Spider-Man movies. Kevin Feige had this to say about the announcement:

“I am thrilled to team with my friends at Sony Pictures along with Amy Pascal to produce the next Spider-Man movie… Amy has been deeply involved in the realization on film of one of the world’s most beloved characters. Marvel’s involvement will hopefully deliver the creative continuity and authenticity that fans demand from the MCU. I am equally excited for the opportunity to have Spider-Man appear in the MCU, something which both we at Marvel, and fans alike, have been looking forward to for years.”

The next Spider-Man movie will hit theatres on July 28th, 2017, a release slot previously held by Thor: Ragnarok. In order to make room, Marvel has rescheduled several upcoming MCU films so that their release calendar now looks like this:

• Captain America: Civil War — May 6, 2016
• Doctor Strange — Nov. 4, 2016
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2 — May 5, 2017
• Untitled Spider-Man Film — July 28, 2017
• Thor: Ragnarok — Nov. 3, 2017
• Black Panther — July 6, 2018
• The Avengers: Infinity War – Part One — May 8, 2018
• Captain Marvel — Nov. 2, 2018
• The Avengers: Infinity War – Part Two — May 3, 2019
• Inhumans — July 12, 2019

The release dates for both parts of The Avengers: Infinity War remain unchanged, but clearly the stage is set for Spider-Man to appear in them. Marvel and Sony are also collaborating to find ways for other Marvel characters to be integrated into future Spider-Man films. What remains unclear is if Andrew Garfield will continue to play Spidey or if they will go with a completely new actor (I would assume the latter). What do you think, is this exciting news? Will Marvel help get Spider-Man back on track or is it a problem that they don’t have full creative control?