Did Original Marvel Press Release Confirm Spider-Man Will Be Peter Parker?

As reports pile up that there will be a non-white, non-Peter Parker Spider-Man appearing in the [...]

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As reports pile up that there will be a non-white, non-Peter Parker Spider-Man appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we have to wonder: 

Do we already have plenty of evidence to the contrary?

Leaving aside the fact that Sony remains involved in the franchise, and that earlier reports indicated their producers were strongly opposed to changing the man under the mask, some of our readers have pointed out another thing that contradicts the Miles Morales (or whomever) news:

That first press release.

You know, the one that announced Spidey was coming home, and that generated millions of views and briefly crashed the Marvel servers?

Yeah. That one.

"Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios share a love for the characters in the Spider-Man universe and have a long, successful history of working together," said Doug Belgrad, president, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group. "This new level of collaboration is the perfect way to take Peter Parker's story into the future." 

Now, we'll grant you that "take Peter Parker's story into the future" is an odd way of phrasing it...but what would be even odder would be to say that, and then immediately discard Peter in favor of a new character.

Peter Parker is Spider-Man to a vast majority of the audience and, especially if you aren't going to retell his origin story or tie it into the previous films, there may be a problem getting casual fans to get on board with somebody else in the role right away. Marvel, presumably, understands this, as well as the oft-repeated criticism that the Spider-Man unmasking in Civil War only has power if it's someone viewers are already familiar with and invested in...although that's a dicey argument since we won't actually  know much about this new Peter by the time Captain America 3 hits.

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