This weekend, Sony inadvertently celebrated the 18th anniversary of “Spider-Man” when it became known that its Marvel-hero blockbusters share a common tag: the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.
That mouthful of appellation (Spumc?) inspired derisive blowback, but critics should also give credit where it’s due: After “Spider-Man” opened in 2002, Hollywood has never been the same.
The origin myth of Peter Parker went on to create an origin myth of its own: Not only was it the first indication that the Marvel Comics movie universe would become a juggernaut, but it also enshrined the first weekend of May as the real opening of the summer movie season.“Spider-Man” remains the fifth-biggest Marvel hit, behind the three “Avengers” titles and “Black Panther.” (All figures and comparisons are adjusted to 2020 ticket-price equivalents.) To this day, “Spider-Man” remains the biggest Marvel title not released by Disney.To be very clear: “Spider-Man” was
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