In news sure not to excite anyone in particular, Kraven the 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 humiliating opening weekend with scathing reviews (and additionally 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 Universe out of Ponder Characters (SUMC)?
Whatever this franchise was supposed to be called, it’s all but certainly over. This new Wrap recently reported that Sony Pictures is seeking to shutter this flailing enterprise after Kraven the Hunter so they can put all their hottest Macau girl 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: Civil Combat
New Sony Market happens to be a mysterious beast because of the fresh new bizarre liberties problem they can be found in. Sony Pictures retains the film rights to the Spider-Guy franchise, but pursuing the critical and you can monetary dissatisfaction of one’s Unbelievable Spider-Guy dos when you look at the 2014, Sony chose to share Crawl-Guy having Ponder Studios and enable Peter Parker so you can move towards the fresh MCU, where he is because the come played because of the Tom The netherlands. But Sony had currently started innovation to the multiple twist-from programs inside the TASM days, such Venom and you can Sinister Half a dozen movies. Sony obviously wanted to exploit more of the Question letters they had entry to, but the focus of the franchise, Spider-Guy, was today tangled up in the internet of what actually is technically their opponent.
Brand new solo Crawl-People films one to emerged shortly after were a sign of one’s passive-competitive contract that Disney and you can Sony struck. Homecoming and much At home was drowning within the references into greater MCU, making certain that it will be hard for Sony to simply take-out of arrangement instead of upsetting admirers and you will shareholders that would concern as to why Holland’s now very popular sorts of the type is actually no extended in the same world once the their Avengers buddies, while No chance Household put brute push discover products out-of letters out of Sony’s non-MCU companies to your legitimacy toward energy of your multiverse. However, nothing of this alter you to definitely Sony’s connection to the brand new large Marvel brand try amazingly that-sided, something that even general audience was basically with the capacity of cluing into.
It’s laughable you to definitely a cinematic universe full of Crawl-Man emails does not have Spider-Man in 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 showed up and you may 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.
