It's been nearly one year since we heard that Spider-Man would be joining the Marvel cinematic universe. Over the next few months we learned that his first appearance would come in Captain America: Civil War (from Disney), Tom Holland (above) would be portraying the web-slinger, Jon Watts (indie darling Cop Car) would be directing, and that his very own solo movie (from Sony) would hit theaters in 2017.

More recently, the release date for the Spider-Man movie was pushed forward to July 7, 2017 and now comes word that Sony is planning to roll it out in IMAX 3D. Beyond that, however, why haven't we heard anything more about the movie?

The good news is that the release date was moved forward several weeks and that Sony is sufficiently confident in the movie to stake out an IMAX run. Presumably, that's based on the enduring strength of the character. The movie will be arriving in theaters a mere two weeks after Wonder Woman and one week before War of the Planet of the Apes.

Some of the secrecy could also be tied up with Captain America: Civil War, which will open in theaters on May 6, 2016. Spider-Man has not yet been glimpsed in the advance marketing materials and it's likely that he'll only have a relatively small role, yet his appearance is guaranteed to make an impact. Civil War codirectors Joe and Anthony Russo spoke about him as "a high schooler burdened with incredible powers and responsibility."

Screenwriters Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley (the new Vacation) will undoubtedly be merging that with what's previously been described as a "John Hughes in high school" spirit for the movie. Given the new corporate relationship that was worked out between Disney, Marvel and Sony so the web-slinger could show up in the Marvel cinematic universe, it makes sense that Spider-Man is maintaining a low profile until his introduction in early May. After that, all bets are off.