The head of Marvel Studios, Avi Arad, said that in a recent article about the rebooted Spider-Man series in USA Today.
Is he an idiot?
Or has he not seen a James Bond film?
It's perhaps the longest-running franchise in cinema history with an unbroken continuity for 40 years from 1962 (Dr No) to 2002 (Die Another Day).
This knowledge (or lack thereof) of movie history (and common sense) may explain his numerous misfires including the Punisher and Hulk franchises, several video game movie bombs, and the Hasslehoff Nick Fury tv movie.