A team-up between Spider-Man and Wolverine is something that fans have been clamoring for years to happen on the big screen and now, according to reputed Industry insider MyTimeToShineHello, the possibility of it happening in 2026's Avengers: Secret Wars is all but confirmed.
Avengers: Secret Wars is poised to be one of the biggest films in the MCU yet. It was reported that Kevin Feige, head honcho of Marvel Studios, wants the film to be bigger than Avengers: Endgame.
For Secret Wars, Feige reportedly wants a scene that could rival and possibly even surpass the infamous Portals scene in Endgame. It is also being said that he is trying to get every actor from every major Marvel movie to appear in Secret Wars.
Still wondering about the team-up between Spider-Man and Wolverine? Read on to find out more.
Spider-Man and Wolverine teaming up: How will it happen?
For those who are wondering, the team-up between Spider-Man and Wolverine is reported not to be between the MCU versions of the characters but rather the pre-MCU versions. Specifically, between Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.
According to industry insider @MyTimeToShineH, Maguire's Spidey and Jackman's Wolverine will join forces in 2026's Avengers: Secret Wars. The insider has often been proven credible as they nailed past scoops with films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home. Despite this, it must be noted that this information has not been verified by official sources and should be taken with a grain of salt.
Interestingly, Hugh Jackman was supposed to make a cameo in Tobey Maguire's first Spider-Man film, directed by Sam Raimi, but the plan fell through when the production team realized they did not have Wolverine's costume.
Jackman, in a 2013 interview with Huffington Post, confirmed the same when the interviewer asked him about his desire to act opposite Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man:
"In the first "Spider-Man" -- Kevin Feige reminded me of this -- we really tried to get me to come on and do something, whether it was a gag or just to walk through the shot or something. The problem was, we couldn't find the suit. The suit was stuck in some thing. And so when they were in New York when I was there, we couldn't get it together."
The actor continued:
"So, you know, I actually asked some high level people about it. Because the optimist in me goes, "Why not? Why can't we do it? You know, a split cast or whatever?" And someone reminded that the amount of money Fox paid compared to the amount of money Disney paid is very different [laughs]. So how you split that pie up? God knows."
He finished by saying:
"But in the comic books, what's great about it is they're just mashing together all the time -- and it's awesome. And people are like, "Yeah, well, let's get this one with that!" And, you know, I still think, one day, there may be an ability to do it."
While a Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) team-up is all but confirmed, fans are still wondering how both the characters will meet. There are two ways it could happen.
The webhead and the clawed mutant could meet in Battleworld, which is the primary setting of Secret Wars in the comics and will reportedly be so in the film, where they encounter one another while battling a common foe.
Another way to do this would be Spider-Man meeting Wolverine or vice-versa when one of them travels to the universe of the other to stop a threat.
The latter is a more likely option as @MyTimeToShineH has indicated with her scoop that Avengers: Secret Wars will be from the point of view of heroes outside the MCU and across the multiverse while Avengers: The Kang Dynasty will be focusing primarily on the MCU Avengers or New Avengers.
This is done out of concern that Avengers: Secret Wars would need to be a four-hour long movie to make the storyline work. Instead, Marvel Studios has planned it in a way such that The Kang Dynasty focuses on MCU heroes but Secret Wars is shown from the viewpoint of heroes outside and across the Multiverse.
Both Maguire and Jackman are making or have made their returns as their characters in the MCU itself. Maguire reprised his webslinger role in 2021's superhero blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home, where he joined forces with Tom Holland and Andrew Garfield's versions of the characters, while Jackman is set to pop-up his claws again in 2024's Deadpool 3, starring Ryan Reynolds as the titular mercenary with a mouth.
Spider-Man and Wolverine's relationship in the comics
Spider-Man and Wolverine have a rather uneasy alliance in many of the comics and in other media such as animation and video games. Their relationship is one that is based on mutual but begrudging respect.
Spider-Man's jokes and quippy nature tend to rub the rather gruff, grumpy and lonely Wolverine in the wrong way. At some point, both of them get angry with one another for mostly petty reasons. Spider-Man does not like how Wolverine often tries to harmlessly flirt with his wife Mary Jane Watson, and Wolverine on the other hand does not like what he sees as Spidey's quippy nature and inability to take things seriously when it is required.
Despite their differences, both Spider-Man and Wolverine have shown that they can work together well enough if required, and both have even developed a somewhat uneasy but stable friendship.
In Spider-Man and X-Men #15, after Wolverine dies and leaves behind the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, he is revealed to have hired Spider-Man to teach there and trusted him to investigate a traitor among the X-Men's ranks.
At one point in the comic, Amazing Spider-Man: Extra #9, Spider-Man was the only one who showed up to Wolverine's birthday at a bar, where Wolverine told him he was a good man.
Also unknown to both Spider-Man and Wolverine, the former owes his existence to the latter. In a flashback story involving Spidey's parents, Richard and Mary Parker in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #1, readers learn of Wolverine having saved the life of Spidey's parents before he was born. He was also the first person to congratulate the Parkers after they had Peter.
Suffice it to say, had it not been for Wolverine, Spider-Man may have never been born.
How do you think Spider-Man and Wolverine will team up? Let us know your thoughts below.