Spider-Man: No Way Home may have gone through some of the most changes throughout its production. A multiverse storyline featuring former Spider-Man villains was strongly dependent on actor availability that could make the film work. Plus, some may have only joined later in the pre-production schedule which may have also led to many last-minute changes to make it work.
Somehow the film still managed to pull it off and offer a nostalgic but very personal storyline about loss. Storyboard artist Phil Langone has shared a new storyboard from the film’s earliest days that reveals Jake Gyllenhaal‘s Mysterio originally had a role in the film. It seems that he was going to be responsible for the death of Aunt May, which would eventually carry over to Willem Dafoe‘s Green Goblin in the final product.
The mention of “one of” further hints that there may have been quite a few more different potential scenarios on how this sequence came to be. There’s also a chance that they were creating different scenarios to ensure that not every detail would manage to leak online, as the film was surrounded by quite a few leaks building up to its release.
Still, there’s a lot of potential for knowing that there are plans for Mysterio potentially to return. Of course, this could’ve also been a version from another dimension, as it would’ve been fun to see Sam Raimi‘s original vision for the character with Bruce Campbell in the role. Perhaps we’ll see if some concepts return in the inevitable fourth entry.
Spider-Man: No Way Home was a major release back in 2020, as it not only brought back one of Marvel’s most iconic characters to the silver screen but also acted as a gateway into the multiverse storyline of the new Marvel Cinematic Universe saga. Yet, the film managed to be so much more than that with some great performances from the MCU characters and those that made their grand return from past entries of the many iterations this franchise has seen.
Somehow, in a film with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, it does seem like the return of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock stole the show. Not only was it the first time the actor made his cinematic appearance but it also finally added some weight to the Netflix series happening. It seems the character is going to make a return ahead of his new Disney+ series, as a new Funko has been unveiled for the character inspired by his look in the film.
Matt Murdock always had a signature style and it’s great to see the love put into bringing his Funko to life. It’s not the first one from Cox‘s version of the character but it’s still something fans will definitely want to get their hands on. It’s also interesting that a whole line of new figurines is coming out from Spider-Man: No Way Home, especially for those that haven’t gotten one due to Sony trying its best to stay tight-lipped on their appearance in the film. The Funko is a limited edition over at Entertainment Earth so get it while its hot.
It’s not new that Marvel Studios’ productions go through a variety of changes. Not only do they rewrite the scripts before production starts, but they aren’t strangers to also adapting on the fly if necessary. That especially became a necessity during COVID, as the pandemic didn’t make it easy for any production to stay on schedule or even remain in its original slot, forcing it to adapt story elements to adhere to the bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In the case of Spider-Man: No Way Home, we always wondered just how much was changed throughout production, especially with the inclusion of a variety of actors from legacy projects. There was one aspect that stood out from No Way Home and that was the lack of any villains representing Tom Holland‘s Spider-Man. As it turns out, Storyboard artist Phil Langone shared a drawing from one of the finales that seemingly includes Michael Keaton‘s Vulture as part of the ensemble.
It was always funny how the film had the opportunity to establish the Sinister Six but ended up short one member. Perhaps during or before production started, they simply couldn’t get the version of the story together as they intended. Perhaps Keaton wasn’t available for the film, as he did end up reprising the role in Morbius. Whatever the case might be, we’re sadly stuck with what could’ve been off seeing a fully formed Sinister Six and the return of a great villain. Perhaps a future project could see his long-awaited return.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is finally about to get a sequel, which twists the concept of the original. Miles Morales finds himself chased through the multiverse by others of the Spider-Man creed, but the reasoning still remains a mystery. He still has the allies that he met in his first travel before Across the Spider-Verse, but it seems that one member is sadly not returning.
In an interview with ScreenRant, Nicolas Cage reveals that he did not return to voice the character of Spider-Man Noir in the sequel. There is still a chance they may have animated a cameo for the character, he’ll not have any voice lines going by the statement shared by Cage.
You’d have to ask Sony. I don’t know what’s going on with that. No one’s spoken to me about that. Ask them. I don’t know. I really don’t. I wish they would. I love Spider-Man Noir, too. I think that’s a great character. Spider-Man’s the coolest superhero. And then you combine that with Cagney and Bogart and Edward G. Robinson, come on, it’s a great character.
Nicolas Cage
It’s a shame that we won’t get his quirky take on the character, but there’s a third entry on the horizon that could see his return as well. For now, most of the work went into the first sequel and who knows how things might’ve changed in the production that sees his potential return. There’s also the question if others besides Gwen Stacy and Peter B. Parker will appear at all, as there haven’t been any hints at Kimiko or Spider-Ham returning, at least for now.
As studios continue in the age of developing cinematic universes, one notable example that remains steeped in mediocrity is Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU). The studio’s attempt to counter the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t had the most promising start between two commercially passable, yet critically mixed Venom films and the unmitigated flop that was Morbius. Not to be deterred, Sony is still persisting with various other films based on Spider-Man supporting characters. Their choices continue to bring up some major question marks with some of the obscure characters that will be adapted in El Muerto and Hypno-Hustler. It doesn’t immediately put the best foot forward for a logical cinematic universe plan, and it’s certainly very easy to lampoon. However, Sony Pictures may have stumbled upon what could be a genuinely unique and fruitful way to stand out in the world of major franchises.
Many questions can certainly be asked about the logic of creating a cinematic universe around Marvel characters connected to Spider-Man, while never actually using the titular character in any of the films in that universe. However, scraping the bottom of the barrel allows the chance to essentially create new characters and original intellectual property. It’s a concept that studios should be thrilled to have on their hands and what would actually help push it over the edge into cinematic success would be allowing the creative teams of these projects to get truly experimental with them by being visually and narratively distinct from most superheroic-fare. Letting Bad Bunny dive deep into the world of professional wrestling for the role of El Muerto has the potential to be an audience draw for Sony Pictures. And more importantly, letting Donald Glover star in a feature-length film about a deranged club musician could bring out the strong artistic quality found in the tracks and music videos of Childish Gambino. That could truly turn Hypno-Hustler into a household name and a critically successful film.
Some may scoff at the idea of Hypno-Hustler and El Muerto having any potential of being “household names” but for casual audiences, there’s no real difference in awareness of comic characters beyond the upper class of characters. The general knowledge for the characters mentioned above from the common film attendee is essentially equal to that of the Guardians of the Galaxy before 2014 and while of course the success of James Gunn’s film was built around his strong craftsmanship, the SSU could potentially find some level of benefits with unfettered work from good filmmakers. As an additional plus, the usage of Z-list comic characters will allow the filmmakers to take whatever creative liberties they’d need to as they’re not beholden to any sanctity of lore.
While there are potential positives from using these obscure villains, there are equally strong reasons to avoid the current strategy of using more recognizable Spider-Man villains in solo outings. If the SSU remains insistent on not using an interpretation of the Wall-Crawler in their films, then it’s a waste of resources to use characters intrinsically tied to him. Audiences don’t have any tangible reason to watch a film about a villain without their main rival present. The first two Venom films have barely been able to pass as successful films thanks to the individual cache the character has had from 1990s nostalgia. Meanwhile, a character like Morbius that holds none of that cache led Sony Pictures to one of the most major flops in the superhero genre in a good long while.
With that in mind, Kraven the Hunter has all the earmarks to be a flop based on these metrics. Making the villain a seemingly pure protagonist has the potential to remove any of the interesting elements of the character (something that wouldn’t need to be worried about with obscure villains with no love lost). It’s obvious that Kraven would have been much better served being used as a villain for a Tom Holland-led, Marvel Studios co-produced Spider-Man film. These types of more recognizable villains would be much better served in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (aka Sony Pictures actual cash cow in terms of Spider-Man films).
If the SSU does go in the direction of building around these untapped characters, they cannot take half measures in creative decision-making. The studio must fully embrace these types of weird characters and provide the filmmakers with the trust for them to maximize their potential. This sounds strongly rudimentary for the process of filmmaking, but they need to actually have a strong story concept that can be built upon by your main creative team. The notion of simply matching a random celebrity to a Z-list character obviously does not make a successful film. There’s interesting potential in films such as El Muerto and Hypno-Hustler, but if the only idea there is the surface-level pitch, then Sony Pictures are in for a continued world of hurt.
Sony Pictures does have a dark horse chance to turn their odds and ends into something truly distinct in the superhero cinematic landscape. Of course, it seems likely that this was a plan created without much forethought going in and it will be an uphill battle for it to actually work. This strategy will have to involve Sony trusting its filmmakers to independently create unique projects, something that the studio has struggled to do in most of its live-action projects based around Spider-Man. Speaking of the titular character, an attempt to create this sort of universe could’ve been more successful if Sony chose to adapt essentially any of the pantheon of Spider-people that are set to appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Ultimately, this whole conversation could be a moot point in the potentially probable event that all these films are shuttered following another financial and critical flop from the studio.
When Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was first announced, the end of its title came with a little disclaimer – (Part One). The highly-anticipated sequel to 2018’s surprise hit Into the Spider-Verse was supposed to be a two-part event, but the creatives behind the project ultimately decided on turning (Part Two) into its own third film, Beyond the Spider-Verse. Unbeknownst to everyone, however, there was an even more ambitious idea that came before the two-part sequel pitch.
Speaking exclusively with The Direct, lead character animator Ere Santos revealed the Spider-Verse follow-up was originally going to be one massive movie. Instead of a trilogy, the second Spider-Verse would have completed a duology, and it would have made up the majority of the two film’s storytelling. Santos described the initial concept as being similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Avengers: Endgame in its size, elaborating:
[We were asking] ‘Wait, so this is what a two-and-a-half-hour movie?’ This is a really large story that they’re telling. And with all the arcs that they wanted to put in, we were just thinking this was going to be an intense, quick, fast-paced, high-energy movie. But it would have been good. It would have been like, what they were planning was gonna be like ‘Endgame’-esque stuff. Like it was huge. And what they’re planning is still huge.
Ere Santos
Santos then went on to clarify that, in the end, splitting the story up between more films was the right move. As is to be expected, three movies allows for more space to tell a proper tale, and as the animator describes it, gives the characters and their arcs “breathing room“:
But then kind of spreading it out and into two gives it that breathing room we all felt that it really needed to kind of go, ‘Okay, what do we need to set up in the second movie? And how can we resolve it in the third movie? Or not?’ I don’t know. We’ll have to see. It was a really ambitious movie, and at the beginning, it was insanely ambitious, versus what it is now. It’s still super ambitious, but it was like trying to fit two movies into one essentially. But now things can breathe a little bit more.
Ere Santos
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on June 2nd, 2023, and from the looks of the promotional material, it’s still going to be a pretty epic journey.
2022 has been a great year for Sony Pictures. Superhero-wise however, 2022 has not been the best year for Sony. While they’ve seen some successes, their latest attempt at expanding their Spider-Man franchise, wasn’t quite what they hoped for. Spider-Man: No Way Home made a major splash at the box office when it was released a year ago, but Mobius tanked at the box office. Not just that, the internet created an “It’s Morbin’ Time” joke that made them believe they could give the film some extra box office legs but ended up failing even worse.
So, while we have various other spinoff series in some form of development, all eyes are on the next Tom Holland-led project. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been expanding quite rapidly, but there’s still no word on the fourth entry that was confirmed by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Now, Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman finally got a chance to tease what’s next for the wall-crawler in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He ensured that it was happening.
You bet. When you can expect it, I don’t know. Serve no wine before it’s time.
Tom Rothman
It might still be some time until we get an update on what the future has in store for us with the Spider-Man franchise. Marvel Studios has been reshaping its initial phase plans. So, perhaps once one year has fewer projects, we might see the time frame for the next entry. Who knows if we get one Spider-Man film before the Avengers crossover once again and the follow-up right after?
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is one of the most anticipated movies of 2023, and the views on the new trailer surely prove it. The first trailer for 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse gained just around 16M views in 5 years, while the trailer for its sequel amassed nearly 30M views in less than a week.
While Sony is planning on expanding its slate of live-action films with yet another villain-focused ‘Spider-Man’ movie, its animated section continues to grow the Spider-Verse franchise. The synopsis and first look at the movie look promising, and with all the delays so that the crew would have “more time to make it great”, we know the cape flick won’t disappoint.
As a part of their 2023 summer preview, Entertainment Weekly released a new still from Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Included with the still were more details on the film’s plot, along with an interview with the film’s producers, PhilLord and Christopher Miller.
Miles Morales as Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE.
According to Miller, a key part of the film’s set-up is having the franchise lead Miles Morales go through all the usual struggles of a teen while also dealing with his additional responsibilities as a hero.
As he’s growing up, he’s trying to figure out how he can go out and see the world and spread his wings and leave the nest. But he also feels rooted to his home and his family. It’s that push-pull of your life as a teenager, where you’re like, How do I get to be my own person, but also not lose where I came from?
Christopher Miller
One of those teenage things on Miles’s plate will be a developing relationship with Gwen Stacey, who he met in the first film. Gwen is also the key to an increased load of those new hero things as well, introducing Miles to a whole slew of characters, including Spider-Woman. EW further revealed that Spider-Woman will be Gwen’s mentor in the film, and will be voiced by Insecure’s Issa Rae. Lord affirms that “a lot of work has gone into making that character look great,” and adds “If you’ve ever been around Issa, she’s such a dynamo of talent and grace, so you just want to make the character look as cool as she is.”
Spider-Woman isn’t the only spider-person Miles is set to meet in the new film. Chris Miller has confirmed yet again that Oscar Isaac‘s Miguel O’Hara, who appeared in a post-credit scene in the original film and seems to butt heads with Miles in the trailer, will not be the villain of the movie, but just “sort of an antagonist to Miles because they both think that what they’re doing is the right thing”. Rather, as already confirmed by the film’s synopsis, The Spot will be the movie’s main villain. Here’s what Phil Lord had to say about him:
I like the villains best when they reflect the journeys of the hero — sort of a dark mirror of the protagonist, and I think Spot’s no different. He wants to be seen as legitimate. He’s a character that has a silly costume and is not always seen as the top tier of Spider-Man foes, but like all of us, he wants to be taken seriously.
Phil Lord
With The Spot on board as the villain for both this film and the sequel, he’ll certainly have his chance to make an impact on Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse releases in theaters on June 2, 2023.
Sony is at it again, as it seems they have found their next niche Spider-Man character to get his own spinoff film. In The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision entry they’ve unveiled that the previous popular fan cast for The Amazing Spider-Man‘s title role, Donald Glover, will make his return to the world of the webhead as a star and producer of an upcoming villain-based spinoff. Who are they focusing on you might ask? None other than Hypno-Hustler.
Eddie Murphy‘s son, Myles Murphy, is set to write the project that doesn’t have a title just yet. It marks another one of the bizarre Sony Pictures’ choices of developing films based on obscure villains from the character’s catalogue. It seems Glover loved the musical aspect and doesn’t have the Marvel baggage of connecting him to the wider audience. There’s no word if they are going for the character’s disco roots or even taking a more modern approach, as the details remain under wraps.
Sony’s approach to using the Spider-Man license is definitely bizarre and somewhat out there that you have to respect it. There’s a good chance that they might have some other bizarre characters that’ll get their own project down the line. Anyone else up for a Screwball seires about their troubles as an influencer? Still, Donald Glover once again returns to the franchise after briefly appearing in Spider-Man: Homecoming and this hopefully doesn’t mean he’ll not also return to that role later down the line.
The Spider-Man brand’s winning streak goes beyond the highly successful Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse. One of the most acclaimed games from the gaming industry’s last console generation was Insomniac’s Spider-Man which was then followed by a standalone game following Miles Morales. And now, the sequel to both games, aptly titled Spider-Man 2, has now been given the release window of Fall 2023.
Not much is known about the game since it was announced in September 2021. Apart from explicit hints of Kraven and Venom’s involvement, there’s not much to go on from. But given Insomniac’s track record and their deep love for the Spidey lore, this won’t be just some mere follow-up to one of the greatest games ever made.
Source: Twitter
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