News surrounding the Sony hack in late November last year is still being released onto the web, with info from the Hollywood motion picture scandal still being examined by press. Indiewire's "The Playlist" reports that recent intel of the cyber attack that infiltrated the information systems of Sony Pictures originated from e-mails sent to Sony chairperson Amy Pascal by her colleague, Columbia Pictures' Co-President of Production Michael De Luca. Over the course of the e-mails, De Luca showed that he is also an industry insider with details on projects with other studio competitors.

The Daily Beast, which assembled a roundup of reports inspired from the leaks by hackers, noted that De Luca said "[Simon] Kinberg told me Fox is steering 'X-Men' and 'Fantastic Four' into an eventual team up film."

If Sony Pictures continues in this direction, it means that this could lead to the powerhouse film company following in the footsteps of Marvel Entertainment and other competitors. The Marvel Cinematic Universe have taken film adaptations of original efforts from the Marvel Comics umbrella, merging them into one universe. For example, the characters from Jon Favreau's 2008 film "Iron Man" starring Robert Downey, Jr., Kenneth Branagh's 2011 film "Thor" starring Chris Hemsworth and Joe Johnston's 2011 film "Captain America: The First Avenger" starring Chris Evans, assembled and joined the roster of Joss Whedon's all-star superhero film "The Avengers" in 2012.

In the e-mail discussion between Pascal and De Luca, the two Sony execs also talked logistics of creating a series of interlinked films surrounding the Spider-Man "universe." Something similar may also be happening at 20th Fox Century: "(X-Men and Fantastic Four writer/producer Simon) Kinberg told me Fox is steering X-men and Fantastic Four into an eventual team up film. Seems to me maybe, since the Spider-man universe itself is deep, you guys should look at 'Sinister Six', new Spidey female movie and Venom as linked pieces leading to eventual mega movie a la Feige and Fox and not stand alone single films. It's early in all these and you can still map out a blueprint for connective tissue."

The news arrives merely months after director James Gunn insisted his 2014 effort "Guardians of the Galaxy" and Whedon's "The Avengers" will not have a crossover.

Further film adaptations of Marvel's favorite web head crime fighter are currently in limbo. Info regarding a potential arrangement to permit the character to crossover to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has already been reported. The character of Spider-Man, an iconic comic book superhero, was previously seen in Sam Raimi's trilogy of the same name produced by Columbia Pictures and starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco.

Recently, the character was the subject of Marc Webb's Sony Pictures-produced "The Amazing Spider-Man" and it's sequel starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Dane DeHaan. Provided another film is made by Sony Pictures before the character is granted access to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, De Luca has expressed his desire to have Phil Lord and Chris Miller ("The Lego Movie") direct "The Amazing Spider-Man 3" in 2018, ultimately canning Webb. However, there is a possibly that by replacing Webb, De Luca and Sony Pictures may also replace the film's headliner, Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man.

While a name hasn't been thrown into the mix as to who would replace Garfield, Sony execs have stated they were interested in casting Ryan Gosling as a possible villain in the rumored "Sinister Six" film. However, that is unlikely given that Gosling has already passed on "Doctor Strange" and "Suicide Squad".

While there are no set dates for either Spider-Man film, the 2015 reboot of "The Fantastic Four" is scheduled for release on Aug. 7, 2015 in North America, in 2D and 3D theaters. Only time will tell if the rumors are true about a possible crossover between the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.