I have major beef with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Okay, maybe not with the films themselves, but with the ways Sony and Fox have been handling the marketing for each of the films, respectively.

First, Sony has been going completely overboard with their handling of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It was common knowledge for comic book/film fans that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was going to feature both Rhino and Electro in the film. However, Sony quickly spoiled the surprise of Green Goblin’s presence with a half-assed revelation that Dane DeHaan would, in fact, portray the villain, complete with a radical makeover. Soon after the revelation, Sony announced their plans for a spin-off trilogy that would focus on the Sinister Six, six of Spider-Man’s arch-nemeses united to take the wall crawler down. That’s great, but why rush things not even two films into this newfound universe?

Meanwhile, Fox has been doing their part to ensure the universe they’ve built around the original X-Men trilogy would be as confusing as possible. X-Men: First Class was meant to be a retcon/reboot that altered some facts from the X-Men films, but then became the first part in a new X-Men trilogy that would lead into this summer’s upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past. Time travel films are very hard to handle, but when bringing the device into a franchise that already had a confusing backstory to begin with gives Fox the chance to alter things the way they want to while also paving the path for the third film in the trilogy, the already announced X-Men: Apocalypse. I kind of like what Fox is doing with X-Men, but the over-saturation of X-Men stuff over the past couple of weeks, from Carl’s Jr. commercials to sharing the film’s first fight sequence to the 2938238th trailer is just overkill.

Now, waters are being muddled as it’s being reported that The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s post-credits scene will feature a scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, fanboys will want to keep their pants on, as this isn’t a sign of a crossover between the two studios/properties, but a marketing ploy between Sony and Fox. Variety’s reporting that the existence of an X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s credits is due to a pre-existing contract Marc Webb made with Fox Searchlight to shoot another film with the studio following the success of (500) Days of Summer. However, the director opted to make The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Fox agreed to let Webb out of his contract, but only if Sony would advertise X-Men: Days of Future Past for free, thus leading to an otherwise unnecessary promo for a film the majority of movie audiences would already go see.

In a perfect world, Disney would buy out Sony and Fox’s Marvel properties and bring them all under the Marvel Films umbrella. However, the odds of that happening are very, very slim for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, if you’re expecting something much more substantial in regards to a post-credits scene with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, your bubble has officially been burst.

[via Variety]