Sorry Morbius fans, Morbin’ time is over. After a string of disappointing movies, Sony is rebooting its Spider-Man spinoff universe and starting over, according to Sony Pictures CEO Tim Rothman. However, Spider-Noir suggests the studio has already figured out its new plan.
It’s fair to say that aside from the Venom trilogy, which made $1.5 billion worldwide, all the other movies like Kraven the Hunter, Morbius, and Madame Web all have negative Rotten Tomatoes scores alongside poor box office results.
Rothman recently confirmed on The Town podcast that the studio is rebooting the franchise with “new people” involved, although he didn’t explain whether that meant rebooting the existing movies and characters or if the studio is planning to adapt some of the other Marvel characters it owns.
However, Sony may have already figured out the right path for its Spider-Man spinoff universe, and Spider-Noir could be the key that unlocks it all.
Sony should bring more of the Spider-Verse into live action after Spider-Noir
It’s clear from the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the Spider-Noir trailer that Sony needs to lean more on the Spider-Verse when it reboots the Spider-Man spinoffs. Now, that’s not to say that fans need a live-action version of every single alternate Spidey seen in the animated movies, but it’s a good starting point.
For context, Prime Video’s Spider-Noir stars Nicolas Cage as a grizzled, private detective called Ben Reilly who moonlights as a vigilante called The Spider. It’s a version of the character that Cage voices in the Spider-Verse movies. By leaning into the “noir” tone, the new series will seemingly have a distinct identity and style, while the same can’t be said for the villain movies we’ve had previously.
That should be Sony’s key focus moving forward: make every project feel unique. Whether that means using a specific genre, setting, or style depends on the project, but the Spider-Verse is a never-ending well that the studio can draw on.
Sony is already making steps to widen the scope of its animated universe. The Hollywood Reporter recently revealed that a Venom animated movie is in the works, while Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk movies are also in development. It just needs to take a similar approach in live action.
Plus, cherrypicking from different universes would be an interesting anthology approach, and there’s nothing to say that a payoff crossover couldn’t take place in a future Spider-Verse movie. Sony has the keys to make its Spider-Man spinoff movies truly brilliant, it just needs to be unique and not copy the MCU.
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