Despite its worst efforts to entertain audiences with Spider-Man-less Spider-Man movies, Sony finally threw in the damn towel following the dismal response to Kraven the Hunter. It’s an impressive decision for Sony, especially since its CEO, Tony Vinciquerra, delusionally maintains that the films, many of which are widely accepted as some of the worst comic book movies ever made, aren’t bad…
Having learned the wrong lesson from the box office success of Venom in 2018, the studio believed they had found the formula to the Super-Solider Serum when, in fact, they had actually cooked up something more akin to the Goblin Serum. And so, they began a descent into madness that even Norman Osborn couldn’t match, mining their stable of Spidey-adjacent characters in search of diamonds in the rough…and we all know how it turned out.
Incredibly, for every Morbius or Madame Web that did get made, another project of equal or lesser interest rotted in development hell. While the premises some of Sony’s unmade projects sounds reasonable enough, there’s no telling how ghastly they might have ended up. As the calendar turns to a new year free of Sony’s sinful Spidey spinoffs, here’s a look at what might have been, but thankfully was not.
Sinister Six
One of the films originally planned to help Sony launch its Spidey villain-verse in 2013, The Sinister Six was meant to join Venom as a foundational piece. Sony tasked Drew Goddard with writing the script planned for him to direct the film.
Though work on the project began before Sony abandoned Andrew Garfield‘s Amazing Spider-Man franchise, The Sinister Six continued to be developed over the next several years before being forsaken, though its premise certainly changed once Sony pulled the plug on Garfield’s Spidey. Of all the ideas generated by Sony, thanks to the collaborative relationship with Marvel Studios, this one may still live on in some way despite the studio taking a break from Spidey-related movies.
Nightwatch
In 2017, Sony had plans to develop a film around the little-used Marvel Comics’ villain Dr. Kevin Trench, who turned over a new leaf and became the hero known as Nightwatch.
As first revealed by me in March 2018 while working at That Hashtag Show, Sony had secured a monster creative team for Nightwatch with Cheo Hodari Coker (Luke Cage) writing a script to be directed by Spike Lee. Lee departed the project before the end of the year and Nightwatch never made it to the screen.
Silver and Black
Of all of Sony’s unrealized projects, Silver and Black probably came the closest to being made. Development on a Black Cat solo film ultimately evolved into a film intended to see Felicia Hardy and Silvija Sablinova share the screen in what would have been a pretty wild adventure, full of twists, turns, betrayals and quite a few big name Spidey villains and even a few heroes. You can take a deep dive into what the 2018 version of the film might have been had Sony not abandoned it in 2020.
Jackpot
Following the box office success of Venom in 2018, Sony began developing scripts for several films, including Jackpot. In 2020, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow writer Marc Guggenheim, who wrote three issues of Amazing Spider-Man Presents: Jackpot in 2010, was revealed to have been working on the script for two years.
If Sony’s plans to bring a Jackpot solo film to the screen has been an effort to put Mary Jane Watson in the spotlight, they may have been, at the very least, commendable. However, MJ didn’t suit up as Jackpot until 2023 and Sony’s film may have been shelved by then. Instead, Guggenheim‘s screenplay featured one of the other iterations of the character: Sara Ehret (11 comic book appearances) or Alana Jobson (12 comic book appearances). Given that Guggenheim’s Marvel Comics series involved both characters, it’s possible that the film may have followed suit.
Silk
Like Jackpot, development on a Silk solo film began in 2018 following the success of Tom Hardy‘s Venom. By the following year, the project was shifted to streaming with Christopher Miller and Phil Lord overseeing its development. In late 2022, Silk: Spider Society was set to go into production; however, Amazon eventually pulled the plug. As of mid-2024, Amazon was reportedly looking to sell the series to another streaming service.
Spider-Woman
So little was ever officially revealed about Sony’s Spider-Woman project that it was widely believed to be another name for Madame Web. While the latter somehow made its way to the big screen, the former–which could not have been any worse than Madame Web–never did.
In February 2020, just after the COVID-19 pandemic stopped Hollywood in its tracks, Sony began searching for a director for a Jessica Drew-led Spider-Woman film. At the time, the studio was hoping to have Spider-Woman in theaters on October 7, 2021 and by late summer 2020, had locked Olivia Wilde in as director. According to comments by Wilde, Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios may have been working closely with Sony on Spider-Woman despite being hands off on the studio’s other Spidey-adjacent fare. But why?
The live-action rights to Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman fall under a very unusual agreement between Marvel and Sony. According to the agreement, Marvel Studios can use Jessica Drew freely with one caveat: without the approval of Sony, they cannot refer to her as Spider-Woman. That doesn’t mean there aren’t great Jessica Drew stories to tell, only that it’s almost certainly in the best interests of both studios to collaborate on a Drew project in a way similar to how they’ve worked together on Peter Parker/Spider-Man.
However, whether or not Marvel and Sony had struck another deal, we may never know. In August 2022, Wilde still seemed to be attached to the project, keeping whatever plans were still intact at the time to herself during interviews. In May 2023, classic Spidey villain Avi Arad promised that the Spider-Woman film would be in theaters “sooner than you expect,” which was weird because it was expected to be in theaters two years prior to his statement.
And then…the trail went cold. It seems all parties have moved on and unless Marvel Studios has plans for Drew, the character may never make it to the big screen.
Hypno-Hustler
Inspired, undoubtedly, by a March 2022 tweet by me, Sony greenlit a Hypno-Hustler movie in December 2022.
With Donald Glover developing the project and set to star as the titular Hypno-Huslter, this project at least had a chance to be entertaining. Working off a script from Myles Murphy, Hypno-Hustler would have allowed Glover/Childish Gambino to showcase his musical talents as Antoine Delsoin; however, the film was quietly added to the scrap heap. Rumors at the time suggested that Sony preferred to see Glover ultimately suit up again as Aaron Davis/The Prowler who he first portrayed in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
El Muerto
Announced at CinemaCon 2022 and scheduled for a January 12, 2024 release, El Muerto was a vehicle for musician Bad Bunny; however, that vehicle came out of the shop with a few bad tires and was canned when its engine fell out.
Arguably the most bizarre of Sony’s decisions to build a Spider-Man universe without a Spider-Man, El Muerto would have featured Bad Bunny as the in-famous Juan-Carlos Sánchez who, as you undoubtedly know, was a Mexican legacy luchador who wore an enchanted mask which bestowed him with superhuman powers. At the time of the film’s announcement, El Muerto had two full-fledged appearances in the pages of Marvel Comics.
Perhaps the only interesting tidbit to have emerged about what El Muerto may have been came in 2023 when it was revealed that Sony planned to use classic Spidey baddie Tombstone in the film. According to a trade report, Sony planned to have Marvin Jones III, who voiced the character in the animated Spider-Man; Into the Spider-Verse, bring Tombstone to life in El Muerto. WWE superstar Sasha Banks was also reportedly set to play an unknown role in the film. Alas, El Muerto is deceased, if it ever lived at all.
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