In news sure not to excite anyone in particular, Kraven the fresh new Hunter 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 embarrassing beginning weekend 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 of Surprise Characters (SUMC)?
Whatever this franchise was supposed to be called, it’s all but certainly over. The fresh new Wrap 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 https://kissbridesdate.com/american-women/rockford-mn/ 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: Civil Conflict
Brand new Sony Market is definitely a strange beast due to brand new unconventional liberties problem it can be found in the. Sony Photo holds the film liberties to the Examine-Man franchise, but pursuing the crucial and you can financial frustration of the Amazing Spider-People 2 inside the 2014, Sony chose to display Spider-Man having Surprise Studios and allow Peter Parker so you can move into the fresh MCU, where they are since started played of the Tom Holland. However, Sony got already been innovation on the several twist-regarding projects during the TASM days, such as Venom and Sinister Half a dozen videos. Sony certainly desired to exploit a lot of Ponder characters they had entry to, but the focus of the franchise, Spider-Guy, are now involved in the net of what actually is commercially its rival.
The fresh solo Examine-Man films that came once was basically an indicator of your passive-aggressive arrangement one to Disney and you will Sony hit. Homecoming and much From home were drowning in references on wide MCU, making certain it might be problematic for Sony to just take-out of one’s arrangement instead of upsetting admirers and shareholders that would matter why Holland’s now very popular type of the character was no lengthened in identical globe given that their Avengers family, while Absolutely no way Domestic put brute force discover sizes regarding characters from Sony’s non-MCU companies to your legitimacy to your fuel of multiverse. But nothing of that transform you to definitely Sony’s connection to the brand new greater Question brand name is remarkably you to-sided, something even general audiences was basically ready cluing into.
Its laughable you to definitely good cinematic universe filled with Crawl-People letters will not now have Spider-Guy inside.
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 appeared and went 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.