Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures Entertainment, which has been making the Spider-Man movies under license from Marvel, announced Monday night that Spider-Man will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, first by appearing in a Marvel film.  Sony will then release the next Spider-Man film, with Marvel Studios head Keven Feige co-producing with ousted Sony studio head Amy Pascal.  Pascal, who shepherded the Spider-Man franchise at Sony for the past 13 years, lost her job as a result of the North Korean cyberattack over Interview, but ended up with a rich production deal at the studio).  The new Spider-Man film will feature a "new creative direction" for the character.  As it has in the past, Sony will finance, distribute, own, and have final creative control over the Spider-Man films.

Talks on a potential Marvel-Sony deal were first revealed by emails leaked by North Korean hackers (see "Sony Hack Reveals Sony-Disney 'Spider-Man' Discussions"), in which a Spider-Man appearance in Captain America 3 was discussed.  The companies did not announce the Marvel film in which Spider-Man will appear, but the outlines of the deal sound very similar to the one that was discussed in the leaked e-mails.

Feige expressed his satisfaction with the deal.  "Marvel’s involvement will hopefully deliver the creative continuity and authenticity that fans demand from the MCU," he said.  "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 new Spider-Man movie was scheduled for July 28, 2017, which in a cascade of dominos, will end up moving dates for four previously scheduled Marvel films.  The new release dates are:

Thor:  Ragnarok – November 3, 2017
Black Panther – July 6, 2018
Captain Marvel – November 2, 2018
Inhumans – July 12, 2019