ENGIn news sure not to excite anyone in particular, Kraven the new Huntsman is now in theaters. The latest and most likely last live-action spin-off flick for Sony’s unfortunate cinematic universe is limping towards a humiliating opening week-end with scathing reviews (plus IGN’s), marking an ignominious end for what’s been one of the worst years ever for the superhero genre. While no major superhero franchise is at its best right now, with the MCU struggling to get back to the heights of the Infinity Saga and Warner Bros. betting big on James Gunn’s upcoming Superman reboot to get DC back on track, none have been as consistently lackluster as the Sony Spider-Man Universe (SSU). Or is it the Sony World out-of Question Characters (SUMC)?
Whatever this franchise was supposed to be called, it’s all but certainly over. The brand new Tie recently reported that Sony Pictures is seeking to shutter this flailing enterprise after Kraven the Hunter so they can put all their focus on the upcoming Spider-Man 4 and Beyond the Spider-Verse. Good on them for cutting their losses and not subjecting us to any more of this nonsense, but the real question is: How did anyone think this was going to turn out differently? None of these movies were particularly good (sorry, Venom fans) and they all starred characters who are defined by their relationships to Spider-Man, a character they weren’t allowed to meet. This series was always going to fail, even if someone managed to wrangle a worthwhile movie out of the situation. Let’s take a look at why Sony’s Marvel Universe was doomed before it even started.
Spider-Man: Municipal Battle
The new Sony Universe is without question a strange beast on account of this new strange liberties problem it is obtainable inside the. Sony Photographs holds the movie rights to your Examine-Man operation, however, adopting the crucial and you can monetary disappointment of one’s Amazing Examine-Guy dos during the 2014, Sony decided to show Spider-Man which have Question Studios and enable Peter Parker to swing towards the the new MCU, where he’s because come starred because of the Tom The netherlands. But Sony had already come creativity towards multiple twist-out of programs inside the TASM months, such as for example Venom and you will Sinister Half a dozen movies. Sony demonstrably wanted to exploit more of the Ponder emails it had access to, however the center of attention of your own team, Spider-Guy, is today associated with the web of what actually sexy bangladeshi girl is theoretically its rival.
This new solo Examine-People video clips one to emerged shortly after had been an indicator of couch potato-competitive contract that Disney and Sony strike. Homecoming and much From home had been drowning from inside the sources into wider MCU, making sure it could be burdensome for Sony to simply “take-out” of one’s plan instead upsetting fans and you will investors who does question why Holland’s today quite popular variety of the character is zero offered in identical globe as their Avengers friends, while Not a way Household utilized brute push to locate types out of characters of Sony’s non-MCU companies toward “legitimacy” on electricity of your multiverse. But nothing of this alter you to definitely Sony’s link with new large Question brand name try interestingly one-sided, something also standard viewers had been able to cluing in to.
It’s laughable you to definitely a cinematic universe filled up with Examine-Man emails doesn’t have Crawl-Man on it.
The “in association with Marvel” logo that Sony was forced to use and the clear indication that they weren’t allowed to feature Spider-Man in their spin-off films created an omnipresent feeling of Sony’s films being a B-side to the MCU. Regardless of how many times Tom Hardy or others teased Venom meeting Spider-Man, the entire Venom trilogy arrived and ran without the two characters ever crossing paths. Same with Morbius, Madame Web, and now Kraven, with the closest thing to a proper Peter Parker appearance outside of Let There Be Carnage’s post-credits scene being him being born in Madame Web. It’s laughable that a cinematic universe filled with Spider-Man characters doesn’t actually have Spider-Man in it, but that fact ruined the series in more ways than one.
