There are probably millions of fans hoping to one day see Iron Man fight alongside Spider-Man and the Hulk in an "Avengers" movie. And it seems that this might be a huge possibility.

According to Hitflix, Sony and Marvel are apparently working out a deal that will enable to webslinger to cross over into the Marvel Universe to join the Black Widow, Nick Fury and Captain America.

"While I can't get the confirmations I need to verify the story, I'm hearing that there are some very cool 'Spider-Man' plans being discussed that would help Sony refocus their enormously important franchise while also opening up some connections in the onscreen Marvel movie universe that would blow fandom's minds," says the source. "What seems clear from what I've heard is that Marvel wants to be able to play with all of their characters, and if they can make that work creatively and on a corporate level, they will, and that means the world gets bigger again."

This is not a particularly big surprise and seemed inevitable. Spider-Man is a Marvel superhero and it only seemed like a matter of time before the crossover would take place. For Marvel, this is obviously huge. Having Spider-Man make an appearance alongside the ever popular Avengers will only strengthen its potent brand. The Marvel films have all been huge successes even without some of the company's most notable brands in Spider-Man and the X-Men. The X-Men are unlikely to appear in the Marvel Universe anytime soon (though Quicksilver is appearing the upcoming Avengers flick), but Spider-Man is undoubtedly more popular and thus more important.

For Sony, this is a no-brainer. The company made a lot of money with the first three Spider-Man films. There were plans for a fourth installment in the original series, but the departure of its stars and director Sam Raimi forced Sony to reboot the franchise. The company took care of that business in 2012 in order to ensure that it retained the rights to the franchise. However, the success has been mild at best. Neither of the two reboot films have managed to crack the $300 million gross at the box office. Moreover, they have been the two lowest grossing films in the franchise internationally, and that accounts for inflation. So obviously not all is going well for Sony in the Spider-Man universe. The company is attempting to expand the world in the same way Marvel has done with its Superhero Universe, but no one knows how that will ultimately work out.

Having Spider-Man in the Marvel films means that Sony is likely to obtain some financial gain in the process, something that they might desperately need.

But the most important thing of this deal is helping the brand. Spider-Man movies have undoubtedly lost their luster since the 2007 film became a critical failure. The first two films received raves from the press and were box office gems. The third film started off well but the combination of poor word-of-mouth meant that the return viewings were down and the ultimate box office was far lower than anticipated. Since then, the films have been panned by critics and have been received with the same tepid response from fans.

Marvel has yet to endure a critical failure and its films have been tremendous box office successes. Having Spider-Man in a Marvel film will probably help heal the emotional wounds Sony has inflicted on the fans with its most recent Spider-Man films. While Marvel has managed to create stories filled with solid characters and well-structured narratives, Sony has tried to cram the Spider-Man films with as many supervillains as possible and paid little attention to the logic of its plots. Guess which one has managed to capture the hearts and money of fans?

Finally, Sony could learn from a Marvel partnership and potentially return Spider-Man films to a position they have not held since 2004.

Do you like this potential Sony-Marvel partnership? Let us know in the comments section below.