The moment that every Marvel fan has been waiting for has finally arrived. Sony Pictures and Disney have just inked a deal that will allow Spider-Man (a Sony Pictures property) to play in the Marvel sandbox with fellow heroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and more with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Hit the jump for more.

Per Marvel:

Now the key to get out of that statement is that “the new Spider-Man will first appear in a Marvel film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU).” This seems to indicate that this will be another reboot of the character. However, as previously reported, Sony will not be letting go of their franchise so easily, and will be sharing the character with the rival studio. Under the new deal the next installment of Spider-Man will be on July 28, 2017, and will be co-produced by Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige and his expert team at Marvel and former Sony Pictures’ Chairman Amy Pascal (who recently stepped down from her post).

The press release also states that Marvel and Sony Pictures are exploring opportunities to integrate characters from the MCU into future Spider-Man films.

However, there is no mention of whether Andrew Garfield will be involved in any of the future films, or if Sony is planning to continue with its Spider-Man universe. But Sony Pictures will continue to finance, distribute, own, and have final creative control of the Spider-Man films.

Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company said:

In the same press release, it says that the new Spider-Man “will first appear in a Marvel film from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU).” So which film could that be? Well, unless Marvel and Sony were already planning this long before the announcement – which I doubt – he could very well appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron or Ant-Man. Seeing that the Webslinger appearing in either film is very unlikely, he could very well make an appearance in Captain America: Civil War. Just keep in mind that Spider-Man revealing his identity to the world is one of the most infamous events to happen in that comic book story arc. But all of this will be rumors and speculation until an actual casting confirmation is announced.

We could very well have Spider-Man in Avengers: Infinity War Part I and II, as Latino Review scooped last month. Though that has not been confirmed yet.

The three Iron Man films, two Thor, and two Captain America, as well as The Avengers and its upcoming sequel Avengers: Age Of Ultron along with Guardians Of The Galaxy are all part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has a slate of new movies planned through 2019 so far.

[Source: Marvel]