Sony Leaks: Spider-Man Eyed for 'Civil War' Role; Spidey Movie Comedy in Works

By Aaron Couch

According to emails released during a recent hack on Sony Pictures, the studio and Marvel owner Disney have discussed teaming for an animated Spider-Man comedy — and to have the superhero show up in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

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The emails were sent to and from Sony motion picture chief Amy Pascal, and included correspondences with Sony CEO Kaz Hirai and Disney CEO Bob Iger, according to The Wall Street Journal. Marvel is owned by Disney.

An Oct. 30 email from Sony Pictures President Doug Belgrad to Pascal discussed the possibility of Marvel producing a new Spider-Man trilogy that would see Sony retain “creative control, marketing and distribution.”

Those discussions later broke down, The Journal reports, adding that The Lego Movie directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord have a Spider-Man animated comedy in development at the studio.

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Sony holds licensing rights to produce Spider-Man movies, though some Marvel fans have suggested the property should be returned so the hero could appear in Marvel Studios films. In the 2006 comic book storyline Civil War, Spider-Man plays a key role, which also had fans wishing he could appear in the film version.

In July, Sony moved its next Amazing Spider-Man film from 2016 to 2018 after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 failed to meet box-office expectations. It has spinoff films involving the Sinister Six and a female superhero in the works.

Sony suffered a large hack Nov. 24, which has resulted in the release of a slew of private emails, sensitive information about 47,000 employees and financial data to be released.