Yes, all the Marvel movies have those cool little post-credit sequences that generally just show how awesome it is that all of these characters exist in the same universe. Unfortunately, that leaves those Marvel heroes presently optioned by other companies — Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, specifically — out of the fun.
And since Sony controls the Spider-Man film franchise and 20th Century Fox has rights to the X-Men, those two arms of the Marvel Universe will REALLY never cross, right?
Wrong…Spider-Man and the X-Men will share the same screen — and it’s happening right now.
As reported on Crave movie site /Film, fans in the U.K. started freaking out this week when the post-credits sequence on the newly-released The Amazing Spider-Man 2 features a scene of Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Havok (Lucas Till) and Toad (Evan Jonigkeit) kicking ass on bad guy William Stryker (Josh Helman) in a direct tie-in to next month’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
So, wait…how the hell did THIS happen?
Turns out, it’s not a precursor to a Spidey/X-Men crossover feature (which would obviously be incredibly awesome)…it’s just an example of good old-fashioned Hollywood horse-trading between two media titans.
As first reported by Variety, the strange Marvel convergence happened as a result of negotiations between Sony and Fox that eventually allowed director Marc Webb to helm Spidey 2. See, Webb was under contract to Fox Searchlight for another picture following his break-out feature, 2009’s 500 (Days) of Summer. To let Webb work on AS2 instead, Fox agreed in exchange for some high-profile publicity for X-Men: DoFP — and this was how they got it.
Despite your high hopes, the crossover has no implications on the future of either franchise — other than allowing both Sony and Fox to cash in on the Marvel Studios post-credit cache that neither studio had any hand in creating.
Hollywood…ain’t it great?
And Americans, don’t worry…you’ll get to see the same scene the Brits got when Amazing Spider-Man 2 opens in the U.S. on May 2.
