In 2024, three entries in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (aka Sony’s Marvel Universe) have or will be released. Like every other film in this dead-on-arrival franchise, they have been met with scathing reviews. Madame Web was laughed out of the box office, whilst Venom: The Last Stand was met more favourably thanks to Tom Hardy’s pure charm dual role. But, Hardy has stated the Venom trilogy is over and his time as the character is presumably over. With Kraven the Hunter coming soon, the future of the franchise hangs in the balance. But, is it worth saving, and can it be improved?
A Tangled Mess
Born from the plans of The Amazing Spider-Man’s failed shared universe, the SSMU feels more like a contractual obligation than an artistic endeavour. As most know, Sony has a shared custody with Marvel Studios to feature Spider-Man characters in their products. The exact specifications have been complex, but Spider-Man cannot appear within Sony’s independent productions. This is debatable in itself, since Tom Holland was rumoured back-and-forth to appear in the franchise, but has only cameoed to tie Venom: Maximum Carnage to Spider-Man: No Way Home. Even when it looked like Venom was to transition into the MCU, this proved not to be the case. Michael Keaton’s Vulture appeared in a heavily promoted post-credit scene for Morbius, but nothing has come of it due to that film’s financial failure.
The Amazing Spider-Man
Sony’s relationship with the webhead has had its ups and downs. For every success, there has been a failure. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy are amongst the most regarded of comic book movies, but executive meddling by Avi Arad led to Venom’s shoehorning into Spider-Man 3. When the same thing happened for the planned fourth film, Raimi left the franchise.
Afterwards, Sony swiftly announced a reboot of the franchise. The Amazing Spider-Man duology had some good elements, notably Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, but Sony’s priorities were obvious. They wanted their own cinematic universe, but put down tent poles without a canvas. The 2014 Sony leaks revealed extensive plans for future films. The financial disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 led to the would-be franchise being stymied.
Things grew better through Sony’s partnership with Marvel Studios, culminating in Spider-Man: No Way Home being a celebratory love letter to the past and present movies. There was further success through the exquisite Spider-Verse animated movies. However, Sony still wanted to make their own live action movies – the catch was they could not feature Spider-Man in their own Spider-Man movies unless it was in partnership with Marvel Studios. Spider-Man did have a large cast of supporting characters, so it made sense to utilise them.
Venom and Beyond
Their new SSMU was announced with the release of Venom, fulfilling Avi Arad’s long-term dream for his favourite character. Beyond Tom Hardy’s hilarious performance, Venom was met with mixed opinions, but was successful enough to warrant two sequels. This encouraged the development for further films. Much like the DCEU though, the SSMU lacked any real sense of proper planning, direction, or unified intent.
On paper, it was a good opportunity to explore new movie genres and styles outside of the MCU’s very specific formula. We did get those with Venom and Morbius, both of which share a connection as more violent films about Spider-Man villains who became anti-heroes. Along with Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web, the franchise could have set a tone about flawed monsters torn between good-and-evil. This would tie in nicely to the timeless theme of relatable superheroes that Stan Lee and Steve Ditko had when they created Spider-Man. Unfortunately, with each new film, they only got worse, to the point both Morbius and Madame Web have culturally been reduced to memes.
With their movies floundering in cinemas, Sony will have to go back to the drawing board on what to do. There have already been announcements for television series based around Silk and Spider-Noir (starring Nicolas Cage). The most practical choice would be either stay in partnership with Kevin Feige, or just hand the keys back over and let the license expire.
A World Without Spider-Man
The most confusing part of the Marvel-Sony deal is whether or not Spider-Man or Peter Parker can appear in Sony-exclusive productions. It appears that Peter can, but not if he is the main characters, explaining why he can appear in the Spider-Verse films. In fact, considering ninety-nine percent of characters in those movies are technically Spider-Man, the license specifications seem very loose. This is backed up by Sony announcing Spider-Noir’s TV series, which stars a variant of Peter Parker in a 1930s noir setting.
The absence of Spider-Man in the SSMU films is a little jarring, especially when most of the characters included have backstories related to him (i.e. Venom). This could be worked around with the ongoing, loose thread of making films for supporting characters. Yet, amongst the many announcements Sony has made, there were rumours of both a Miles Morales and a Spider-Woman movie. If Peter cannot be used, then Miles could serve as this universe’s Spider-Man. Madame Web introduced Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor as Julia Cornwell, Anya Corazon, and Mattie Franklin; characters who have all been either Spider-Woman or Spider-Girl. Granted, the film takes placed thirty years prior to the others, but comic book characters find all kinds of zany ways to stay young or go forward in time.
If the SSMU continues after Kraven, introducing either Miles Morales or any of the Spider-Women as a new lead character would be beneficial. It would give the franchise a central figure and then build any spin-offs around them.
Weaving the Cinematic Web
The SSMU’s financial success has been very hit-and-miss, but they will want to continue going forward with the brand. What they need, aside from a central character in Spider-Man/Spider-Woman, is to set out a concrete plan on films and themes. Compared to the intricately planned out MCU, Sony’s previous plans were more like they were throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck. Still, there are pieces that could lay the groundwork for a more grander storyline and themes.
Venom: The Last Dance set up Null, the god of the symbiotes as a major threat to the universe. Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web developed the powers but disabilities her comic books self gains, promising to help the future Spider-Women. Kraven the Hunter’s exact plot is unknown, but it does carry a theme that was present in Venom and Morbius about good men becoming monsters. Eddie Brock bonds with a violent alien, which Michael Morbius became a vampire who must fight his bloodlust. Kraven is described as a nature lover, but wants to become the world’s greatest hunter. Targeting the likes of Venom and Morbius would drive Kraven to hunt them to further boost his credibility.
Madame Web, somehow preserving the Spider-Women’s youth by thirty years, predicts Null’s threat and gathers all of these characters together to fight him. This presents themes of the moral complexities of heroes and villains, blurring the line with our anti-heroes. Miles Morales can be introduced as a new Spider-Man, tying in with the weird spider lore seen in Madame Web to give him his powers. He can learn the encompassing theme of “great power, great responsibility” through his relationships with his father Jefferson Davis and his uncle Aaron, who is the Prowler. A couple of films later, Miles can be contacted by Madame Web and be drawn into the greater conflict against Null.
Another idea that sprung to find was to introduce the Beyonder, an otherworldly being who is interested in concepts of good and evil. Perhaps both he and Null have been plotting out a long game to test these moralities on Earth with the introduction of the symbiotes and giving humans superhuman powers. Not in a predetermined, sacred timeline way, but instead using Earth as a test ground and mankind are the lab rats. This is taken from Spider-Man: The Animated Series where the Beyonder and Web drew Spider-Man, his allies, and enemies into such an experimental conflict on Battleworld. Fun times!
Other characters could gain their own films or TV series. For instance, there were cancelled plans for a crossover between Black Cat and Silver Sable, both characters who could appear in crime thrillers. They could then form a team called the Wild Pack, consisting of the aforementioned characters or some new ones. Another idea for a team is the Slingers, a group of college students who don costumes once owned and then discarded by Peter Parker. The origins could be tweaked a little to dance around the whole absence of Peter, giving us a new team of teenagers who could team up with Miles.
If Sony were continue after the Null arc was done, they could venture into a live action Spider-Verse by introducing the deeper mythos of Spider Totems, etc. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Holland, Maguire, and Garfield should be wheeled out again, as that has already been perfectly done. Instead, introduce new Spider characters like Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man 2099, and bring in both Silk and Noir if their TV shows get off the ground.
In conclusion, the SSMU has been a critical failure since birth, feeling like Sony just clinging to their license to make some cash. With James Gunn rebooting the DCEU into something more thought out, perhaps Sony can do the same. They have the means to, but their impatience and eagerness to get cash should not be their priority as a film studio. With great power, comes great responsibility. Or in this case, with great filmmaking comes great box office.
How should the SSMU be improved, or should Sony just abandon Spider-Man? Leave a comment or our Twitter feed.
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