As awesome as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, it's always felt like a party that has someone missing. The X-Men usually keep to themselves in the comics, but Spider-Man has had enough run-ins with Earth's mightiest heroes that his absence is felt in the "Avengers" movie. It's kind of been like two friends who don't get to play together because their parents don't like each other.

Rumors in the last couple weeks, however, suggest that could change.

HitFix restarted the conversation, saying that Sony was considering a détente with Marvel Studios, which would allow the company to somehow incorporate Spidey into its Cinematic Universe. That rumor was then reiterated by both Badass Digest and Entertainment Weekly, with the former filling in some blanks about when and how this could happen.

For as long as Marvel superheroes have been meeting up, there have been rumors of Spider-Man joining the party. While it remains to be seen whether anything comes of these most recent talks, here's a quick recap of the history of Spider-Man and the Avenger's "Will they? Won't they?" relationship.

Spider-Man Spotted On "The Avengers" Set (Except Not)

Back in January 2012, World Council member Jenny Agutter said that she saw Spider-Man's trailer on set. I'm not sure what she was talking about because that was totally untrue, and we even got Andrew Garfield to comment.

Oscorp Tower Nearly Appears in "The Avengers"

According to "Amazing Spider-Man" producers, the HQ for the evil corporation behind everything bad in that movie universe nearly appeared in the New York skyline of "The Avengers." Unfortunately, timing killed that one, since the Oscorp design wasn't done when Marvel needed it for inclusion.

NY1 Newsman Pat Kiernan Is First Official Character To Cross Both Franchises

So far, there's only been one person linking "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Avengers" outside Stan Lee. NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan has appeared in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," "Iron Man 3" and "The Avengers." Read our interview with Kiernan about it here.

Andrew Garfield Says He Wants To Appear In "Avengers"

The absence of Spider-Man from "Avengers" movie has certainly not been because of a lack of enthusiasm from current Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield. The actor only expressed his love of the idea to Yahoo! UK during press for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2."

Spider-Man Spotted On "Avengers: Age of Ultron" Set (Except Not)

A bunch of people fell for this very fake photo from the Italian set of "Avengers: Age of Ultron." Sadly, this is mostly a work of fan fiction.

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" opens in theaters on May 1, and Spider-Man won't be in it.