[10.28.14 UPDATE] No Spider-Man yet, but Phase 3 movies were announced.

I tried to stay away from this story. I really did. There’s been a lot of superhero news in the past few weeks and I really wanted my next post to be completely unrelated to superheroes. I told myself I would only write about this when there was something I could actually say. After all, “Marvel’s doing a thing” is most certainly not news. Unless, of course, that thing comes in the form of a private press event.

As you can see, Marvel appears to be following in the footsteps of the gaming and tech industries. It was announced Friday that Marvel will hold a special press event at the El Capitan Theater on Tuesday, Oct. 28. That’s all the solid information we have right now. Anything else you hear is a rumor.

At this point, you should know that Marvel movies and superheroes in general have me hooked. As a fan, I feel the need to speculate.

None of the following is confirmed. This is only my opinion and should not be taken as news.

My gut says ‘Spider-Man.’

I’m roughly 85% certain that Marvel is going to announce a partnership with Sony, allowing Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside the Avengers. Yes, 85% is high. No, I haven’t read any opinion pieces on this and I certainly don’t have any inside sources. I’m just a nerdy college kid who likes superheroes too much. If I’m wrong, then I’ll gladly admit it. But I wanted to voice my opinion now so that if I am right, I’ll be less likely to act like a pretentious fanboy who “knew it all along” when I write about the event Tuesday.

I’ve honestly tried to not think about Marvel’s event for as long as possible. I personally believe big press events that resemble political rallies have the same effect as political rallies. These kinds of announcements, while very exciting, have a tendency to further polarize consumers who are after the same thing. These press events define the ‘vs’ culture (Apple vs. Samsung, Microsoft vs. Sony, and now Marvel vs. DC.) But back to Spider-Man.

Marvel has never held a press event like this, so it’s safe to assume that they’re announcing something big. Being able to use Spider-Man, the superhero who essentially saved Marvel from bankruptcy, would be HUGE. As I’ve mentioned before, Sony and Marvel Studios are on pretty good terms, and there have been whisperings of Spider-Man appearing in the MCU.

But…is that it?

No matter how big and mind-blowing an announcement like this would be, it wouldn’t make much sense for Marvel to invite Los Angeles press into the El Capitan just so they can spend five minutes saying “we got Spidey.” However. This announcement could be coupled with an official confirmation on Phase 3: Civil War and/or a full layout of Phase 3 movies. After all, Robert Downey Jr. did say in his recent Reddit AMA that “sooner rather than later the Marvel Roster” would be revealed.

There’s a chance I’m completely wrong about all of this, but in my opinion, there’s a whole lot of bread crumbs that are starting to look like part of a trail.

What do you think Marvel has up its sleeve?