Spider-Man has a big role to play in the future of Sony Pictures, despite the studio's recent announcements that it's drastically cutting its movie expenditure, as they look to produce more sequels and even some spin-off material from The Amazing Spider-Man series.

Spiderman
Filming is well underway for the new Spider-Man film

Despite this good news for Spidey fans, the studio have also announced that it has no intentions of teaming up with Marvel or Disney and introducing the web-slinger in the next Avengers movie, or any other future releases from the rival studio.

“We do very much have the ambition about creating a bigger universe around Spider-Man. There are a number of scripts in the works [involving characters and villains from the series]," said Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Michael Lynton at a recent Q&A with share holders.

His comments, as reported by Deadline, seemed optimistic in regards to Peter Parker's future, however Lynton seemed adamant that the company will in no way be working with Disney or Marvel and introducing the character to their on-screen comic book universe. Instead, they will be creating a larger platform for Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker/Spider-Man to swing to and from.

Sony continue to own the movie rights for Spider-Man from Marvel for years come, and their deal also gives them control of the rights for any character that features in his universe, including villains, girlfriends and even Aunt May. Taking the recent comments from Lynton into consideration, it now looks as though Sony and Disney might be in a race against time to secure the rights to certain characters from within the comic books; ones that will then be able to star alongside Spidey in Sony's own take on the superhero/villain mash-up, like with The Avengers and the upcoming Superman vs. Batman title.

Check out the behind the scene images for the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man 2

This might not be an entirely bad thing however, especially for those who are interested in the darker elements of the Spider-Man universe. With their emphasis placed firmly on family-friendly entertainment, Disney are never going to commission a movie version of The Punisher that does the comic justice, however Sony may very well put one out instead and tie him in with the Spidey character arc.

In the comics, Spider-Man and the Punisher have a long and complex relationship that is adored by fans. A successful introduction to the Amazing Spider-Man film series would be warmly met by fans of the comics and the film. This also bodes well that a movie featuring Venom and Carnage could come into fruition, two of Spider-Man's most formidable and deranged foes who would also be too risky for Disney to work with, but would would work perfectly in any future Spider-Man films.

Andrew Garfield Emma Stone
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone will both be back for the sequel