Amy Pascal Sacked

Amy Pascal is out at Sony.

If the Sony leaks were real (and no one made any real effort to play that part down) then Pascal was one of the main road blocks for Marvel sub-leasing Spider-Man into the MCU.

What does her departure mean? Well, hopefully, talks will resume with Marvel to get the webslinger into their Cinematic Universe.

It really would be a win-win proposition after the MISERABLE last outing for the character. Reports indicated that there was an 80/20 deal on the table for Marvel to produce/write/inform the new direction for the character in at least one movie and several MCU appearances. Reportedly it would have also meant a recasting of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

(Post: 2015 Looks Massive for Nerds)

For Marvel it would be a win, simply because of another major face being on the landscape in their Cinematic Universe. Plus Sony sold the merchandising rights to Spider-Man a couple years ago and guess who bought them. Yup, Disney.

For Sony, it would be a win to give credibility back to a franchise that has been painful two of the last three times the character has been on the bigscreen. To steal a quote from Kevin Feige about the Hulk and how Joss Whedon would use him in The Avengers, "I want him to be cool again."

While Spider-Man's profitability is still not in question, the last three Spider-Man movies have all crossed the $700 billion mark and the franchise still averages $790+ worldwide, the cool factor is definitely wearing out. Who hasn't made an Emo Parker dance joke?

There's only one thing left to do....twitter mob. Let's all promise #Sony that we'll see 5 Sony films at the theater this year so long as they go take Marvel up on the offer.

Avengers Age of Ultron TV spot

The biggest thing to take from this is probably what it doesn't show. Namely, anything new. Every spot we've seen since the first trailer was leaked by Hydra has been some rehashing of footage from that trailer. 

What does that mean?

I think it's because they know they threw out the first pitch awfully early, and Marvel is saving some big guns for the final trailer, that way they get all us neckbeards worked into a froth just in time to hand our money over. And again. And again. And again...

But let's take stock of just what we haven't seen:

1. The evolution of Ultron. We've seen the Mach1 and what is most likely his final form. I'm willing to bet there are plenty of in between stages.

2. (Spoiler) Loki and Heimdall. Idris Elba let it slip (lacking foresight...see what I did there?) that he and Hiddleston had been on set. Just how big a role they will have is questionable.

3. The Vision. A big time character who will have his origin in the movie, and we've seen nothing of him. 

4. Avengers Assemble. Just how do all these guys get back together? Tony Stark is "no longer Iron Man." Thor is making kissy faces somewhere in the universe. Captain American is coughing up lungs full of water and looking for his childhood bestie. Fury got tired of his eyepatch and traded it in for some sunglasses from the 80's. Banner is getting his psych degree. 

5. The Twins. Sure, we've seen bits of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, but we still have no idea where they come from or what they're doing. 

6. The Avengers. With so many cut shots and so little actual footage, all we've seen is a little bit of Hulk vs Hulkbuster, Thor yelling and chooke-slamming Stark, Captain America jumping over a car, and Black Widow playing patty-cake with the green guy.

(Marvel Owns You)

What is Marvel saving? Will Avengers: Age of Ultron have the same consequences and devastation for the MCU that Captain America: Winter Soldier did? If so, the movie promises a lot of surprises that have yet to be revealed. 

ADRIAN FORT is a writer, blogger, and essayist from Kansas City, Missouri. Follow him on twitter @adriananyway. His work has appeared in Existere, decomP magazinE, The Bluest Aye, Bareback Magazine, Gadfly Online, Chrome Baby, The Eunoia Review, Linguistic Erosion, and Smashed Cat Magazine. His Master's Degree is from Lindenwood University.