These are confusing times indeed for ‘Spider-Man’ fans, as we still have a bright new hope in Tom Holland’s version of the web-slinger in the MCU proper (even if he is “technically” dead at the moment thanks to ‘Avengers: Infinity War’), and yet Sony INSISTS on moving forward with their shared “Spider-Man” Movie universe which may or may not include Spider-Man himself. And while Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige continue to add to the confusion with conflicting statements about whether ‘Venom’ is MCU adjacent or whether Tom Holland will make an appearance in the movie, Sony continues to make plans with ‘Silver and Black‘ about Spidey frenemies Silver Sable and Black Cat (though the release date for this one was recently pushed back from 2019) and ‘Morbius the Living Vampire,’ with Jared Leto set to star as the tortured scientist turned blood-sucker. But is there enough here to make a shared universe, especially without Spider-Man/ Peter Parker in the mix as the connecting thread?
According to Emily Carmichael, one of the writers on ‘Pacific Rim Uprising,’ she knows for a fact that Sony has A LOT to work with for their shared Spidey Universe. In her words:
“I was one of the directors called in to pitch on Silver & Black. At one of my early meetings on the project I got a peek at the phonebook-sized compendium of characters Sony has the rights to, all characters tangentially related to Spider-Man. It’s a cinematic universe, all right.”
When asked whether she thought a lot of these “lesser known” characters in the Marvel/ Spider-Man universe could really carry tentpole movies or keep people excited, she replied:
“I heartily object that something known to a few is of a lower tier than something that is known by many…There is nothing inherently problematic in this material. If the creative is good, it could be great.”
Of course, all parties more or less agree that for Sony’s gambit to succeed, they first need to see some success with ‘Venom.’ Luckily, they have a good amount of faith in the character and the movie, as Marvel Studios founder, ‘Spider-Man’ franchise producer, and producer on ‘Venom,’ Avi Arad recently said while speaking to Vulture:
“This is an origin story and we have to try and make it the beginning of a long journey…Kids love Venom. It’s something about it that attracts the anti-hero sensibility. So we are very excited.”
It all sounds like a long-shot to me, and I really, really hope they find some way to do this so that we can still have A) Spider-Man in this universe as these are all characters linked to the hero, and B) A version of these villains in the MCU, as it would suck if they could not do characters like Venom or Black Cat in the MCU just because Sony was using them in their little shared non-Spidey universe.
What are your thoughts here? Do you think Sony knows what it is doing? Sound off in the comments below!
Source: Vulture
