Watching Sony Pictures attempt to make a Spider-Man movie over the past 14 years is like watching a Rube Goldberg–style slapstick routine where the character trips down the stairs, lands on a pot, steps on a rake, and still somehow manages to fall off a ladder at the end.
It’s absurd how many absolutely terrible Spider-Man spinoffs they’ve made, and even Venom was so-good-it’s-bad material.
Thankfully, Sony is rethinking their Spider-Man cinematic universe and will start from scratch – actors and all.
Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman says the studio is hitting the reset button on its live-action Spider-Man spin-off universe after a string of underwhelming box office returns.
Speaking on Matt Belloni’s The Town podcast, Rothman was asked about the franchise’s future beyond the mainline Spider-Man films and the animated Spider-Verse series, which now includes an R-rated Venom.
Asked whether the larger Spider-Verse is dead, he said, “No.” Is the studio going to go back to those at some point? Rothman confirmed, “Yes.” Asked if it’ll be a fresh reboot? “Yes.” With new people? “Yes.”
That includes Sony’s shared universe efforts, such as the Venom trilogy (featuring Tom Hardy), Morbius (starring Jared Leto), Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter.
All six of those films are criminally awful and beyond embarrassing, showing a complete disconnect from the fan base and zero understanding of the characters, the comics, or even how to make a competent film. Hitting the reset button isn’t enough – heads need to roll, and new leadership needs to surface. A great example was putting James Gunn in charge of the DC cinematic universe. Give fans something to be excited about, because Sony Pictures Animation is running circles around Sony’s clown show.
Need visual evidence?
Here are the Rotten Tomatoes critic (Tomatometer) scores for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe films:
• Venom (2018) — 31%
• Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) — 58%
• Venom: The Last Dance (2024) — 40%
• Morbius (2022) — 15%
• Madame Web (2024) — 11%
• Kraven the Hunter (2024) — 15%
These are all failing scores, and let’s be honest, it’s bizarre how many critics gave Venom: Let There Be Carnage a pass when it’s clearly worse than Venom (2018).
As a comic book fan, I’m raging so hard right now, but I’m thankful Sony, at the very least, allowed Marvel to fix Spider-Man and give us some of the best superhero movies of all time. Fingers crossed the black symbiote rumors are true, and Venom will eventually make his way into the MCU.
Until then, don’t hold your breath for Sony to ever make a good Spider-Man spinoff.
Sony began developing a shared live-action universe of Spider-Man spin-off films in 2018 with the release of Venom, starring Tom Hardy, which was followed by Venom: Let There Be Carnage in 2021 and Venom: The Last Dance in 2024. The studio expanded the universe with Morbius in 2022, starring Jared Leto, and later added Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter in 2024. These films were produced separately from the Marvel Studios–collaborated Spider-Man trilogy set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and from Sony’s animated Spider-Verse series, forming what became known as Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU).
