There’s only so much one can do with Spider-Man, or any other superhero, for that matter, which is why villain and antihero narratives exist. In the case of Sony Pictures, the likes of Venom, Kraven, and Morbius have all gotten their solo outings on the big screen…except, things didn’t quite go as expected.
In light of a disappointing box-office streak, the studio is now looking at rebooting the larger Spider-Man universe in the unspecified future. The news comes by way of Matthew Belloni’s The Town podcast, where CEO Tom Rothman was asked, “Where are we in the Spider-Man franchise? Not the animated Spider-Verse. Is the larger Spider-Verse dead?”
“No,” replied the latter.
“Are you going to go back to those at some point?”
Rothman confirmed, “Yes.”
When probed on whether the new iteration would be a “fresh reboot” with “new people”, the executive replied, “Yes, yes”, with no further explanation offered.
Only time will tell whether the reboot is the second chance Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) sorely needs, but it’s difficult to ignore its struggles thus far. While 2018’s Venom and its sequels, Let There Be Carnage (2021) and The Last Dance (2024), performed decently at the box office, all three were critically and commercially panned. Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter suffered the same fate, with then-CEO Tony Vinciquerra describing Kraven the Hunter as “probably the worst launch we had in the seven-and-a-half years” since he first stepped into his role.
At least Spidey himself is safe…for now. The webslinger will return in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, which is set four years after its predecessor. It swings into theatres on 31 July, but before that, Spider-Noir is slated to hit Prime Video on 27 May, starring Nicolas Cage in his first leading TV role as the titular superhero, who was catapulted to mainstream popularity with the animated Into the Spider-Verse film.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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