New rumors have surfaced concerning Sony’s deal with Marvel to allow Spider-Man to join the Avengers. Spider-Man will reportedly be recast, and will first appear in The Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1.

Update: A Sony representative has denied that these rumors are true, calling them an “old rumor” with “no validity whatsoever.” Whether these specific rumors are true or not is irrelevant, as leaked emails from Sony have proven that they’re looking to rework the Spider-Man franchise. The superhero will eventually be reimagined, whether that is with Marvel is still officially up in the air.

Despite The Amazing Spider-Man 2 pulling in $708 million worldwide, the studio’s leaked emails have confirmed that they’re unhappy with the franchise, and intend to find new ways to use the character to their benefit.

We know for a fact that a deal was being worked on to get Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, but negotiations fell through, which put Sony back at square one. New rumors from Latino-Review suggest that Sony and Marvel have completed negotiations, and Spider-Man will appear in 2018’s The Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1.

It’s disappointing to find out that Andrew Garfield is being recast, as the majority of fans seemed to enjoy the actor in the role, but we imagine by 2018 he wouldn’t be interested in sticking around for a very complicated franchise crossover anyways.

The reason Spider-Man is set to show up in The Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1 is because Captain America and Thor will supposedly not be a part of the Avengers at that point. These are huge rumors, and we imagine very few are true, but the Spider-Man crossover is most likely fairly on point.

Freeing up a few character spots on the Avengers allows Marvel to add Spider-Man to their cast, who will undoubtedly be a massive draw to the film. Spider-Man will reportedly be joined by Doctor Strange, who we know now will be played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

All of this doesn’t mean that Sony has given up the rights to Spider-Man, they’ve simply agreed to work with Marvel to co-produce films which will include Spider-Man. So far we don’t know what this means for solo Spider-Man films, but it’s quite possible that Marvel could be involved in solo films as well.

Spider-Man is a huge name around the world, and if Sony doesn’t believe they’re capable of successfully bringing the character to the big screen, then we’re glad they’ve chosen to team up with Marvel for future films.

The Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1 will hit theaters May 4, 2018, and we look forward to seeing if Spider-Man will be included in the cast. Possibly more important is finding out who will be playing the webslinger, as he’ll need to be cast within the next year or two.

We know that a lot of this is speculation, but we do believe the information concerning Spider-Man’s future involvement with Marvel is true based on emails between Sony executives and directors working for Marvel at this time.

Let us know what you think about Spider-Man being involved in Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1, and who you think should play the role if he were to join the Avengers over the next few years.