It is no spoiler to say that there is now no doubt that the worlds of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and Marvel’s Cinematic Universe are about to come together and it is coming “soon” according to the team behind Venom: Let There Be Carnage. With the two properties about to crossover, it seems that this is just the tip of the iceberg for what Sony have planned for the future of their side of Marvel’s theatrical releases. As well as the Venom sequel, we also have Morbius arriving in January, and with all that in mind, it seems that Sony are really wanting to push on with plans for a Sinister Six movie sometime in the near future.
In itself, the rumor of a Sinister Six collaborative film has been around for a while, but in a recent Hero Nation Podcast, Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro elaborated on Sony’s expanding plan within a more connected world. “Sony’s always kept, outside of the new Spider-Man stuff they’re doing with Disney/MCU, Sony’s always kept their Marvel stuff separate,” he said. “With this Venom (the upcoming Let There Be Carnage) they’re actually going to connect to the Spider-Man universe they’re setting up with Disney/MCU. I know one of their long-term goals is to make Sinister Six, and that’s kind of the project we’re all waiting for, their version of the bad guys from the Spider-Man (universe).”
From the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, it is clear that the number of villains making an appearance in the movie is turning Tom Holland’s next outing as Peter Parker into a Sinister Six movie of its own, but moviegoers have wanted to see an all-out villain’s film for a long time and Sony did previously try to get the idea off the ground when Andrew Garfield was swinging his way around New York. With superhero movies now making up a huge part of theatrical grosses, it is likely that many of the projects that would have struggled to gain traction in the past are about to be brought back to life in a big way.
Speaking to Variety in a previous interview, President of Sony Picture Group, Sanford Panitch, said of such a project, “It’s tough, because I think these projects are the kind of things we have to work on in the dark. They’re not ready until they’re ready. Kraven is a great example because we just didn’t rush it. We could have made that three-plus years ago. It’s just now the script’s awesome, J.C. was the right choice, and we found the movie star because it was just kismet, and watching this other movie [Bullet Train] and realizing that [Aaron Taylor-Johnson] could be the perfect casting.”
That would be the Kraven the Hunter movie, which is only now going into production, and while Sony have already included Michael Keaton’s Vulture in the Morbius trailer – remembering he was last seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming – it is a question of exactly how extensive this newly emerging crossover universe is going to become in future.
Sony will release Venom: Let There Be Carnage on October 1st.