Summary
Sony’sSpider-ManUniverse may not be finished after all, as a new rumor claims the company is moving forward with a different strategy that some fans felt should have been the plan from the start.
Sony’sSpider-ManUniverse (SSU) has a strong launch with Tom Hardy’sVenommovie, which received mixed reviews from critics but performed well at the box office. Even the sequel,Venom: Let There Be Carnage, performed relatively well considering it was released when the COVID-19 pandemic still had some fans reluctant to visit movie theaters. However, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe bombed at the box office with subsequent flopsMorbiusandMadame Web. EvenVenom 3underperformed compared to its predecessors. Those box office misfortunes culminated withKraven the Hunterperforming so poorly at the box officethat reports claimed Sony was officially scrapping its Spider-Man Universe plans.
MyTimeToShineHello, who first claimedSony was considering selling Spider-Man back to Marvel, has now provided a new update on the company’s plan for the franchise. While Sony’s Spider-Man Universe movie previously centered on the wall-crawler’s villains and supporting characters, MyTimeToShineHello claims they heard Sony now plans to make spinoff movies about Spider-Man variants. Fans should take this information with a grain of salt, as it has yet to be confirmed or denied by Sony Pictures.
On Twitter, fans seem to have little confidence that Sony’s alleged plans to produce spinoffs centered on Spider-Man will work out differently. Some believe focusing on Spider-Man variants is the right strategy and should have been the plan from the beginning. However, others feel the box office results and critical response won’t improve unless the writing does. One fan proposedcontinuing Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield’sSpider-Manmovies, an idea that gained popularity after both actors reprised their roles opposite Tom Holland inSpider-Man: No Way Hometo fan adulation.
Because the franchise opted to exclude the eponymous wall-crawler, many fans believeSony’s Spider-Man Universe was doomed from the start. While the writing for every SSU movie was criticized, Sony might have been able to entice audiences had its Spider-Man Universe featured the character the franchise was named after. WhileVenomwas a successful start for the film series, the villain-turned-antihero was one of the most popular Marvel characters. Morbius and Madame Web may be well-known to comic book fans, but few would argue the average moviegoer was clamoring for those characters to lead a feature film. Kraven the Hunter is one of Spider-Man’s most popular villains, but without the wall-crawler present and after losing audience trust with past flops, moviegoers weren’t eager for his standalone movie either.
Still, even if Sony plans to includeSpider-Manvariants in its spinoffs movies, the company has a lot of work to do to regain audiences’s trust.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is one of the biggest names in entertainment today. The superhero first appeared in the Marvel comic Amazing Fantasy #15 before becoming a leading figure in the Marvel comic-book universe.Spider-Man has also featured in numerous films and a plethora of video games, most notably Insomniac Games' Spider-Man (2018) and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
