Sony Scraps Latest Spider-Man Spinoff After String of Marvel Bombs

Sony has been struggling quite a bit with its Spider-Man spinoff films, but then again, what did you expect was going to happen when the studio tried to create a cinematic universe based around a character who wasn’t present? While Venom: The Last Dance was a modest box office success, fans and critics alike ripped Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter to pieces, to the point where the latter two films have become internet memes. The studio has finally realized the error of its ways and decided to put Sony’s Spider-Man Universe on hold, removing an untitled Marvel project from their release calendar, which was originally set for June 27, 2025.

The decision to launch this universe has baffled fans from the beginning and has led to considerable confusion. Sony rightfully shared Spider-Man with Marvel Studios to massive success while using the other related characters it has the rights to develop a shared cinematic universe of its own, which included the Venom films, Morbius, and the aforementioned Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter.

But unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, whose filmmakers have gone to great lengths to ensure its films and most of its TV shows are connected to one another, Sony never made it clear as to how – or even if – these films are connected. Fans were only more baffled when the franchise intersected with the MCU a couple of times, such as Venom’s appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home or the Vulture’s appearance in Morbius. Neither of these connections has been followed up on, and neither studio seems to be interested in pursuing these plot points.

[RELATED: A Spider-Man Spinoff Universe Was Never Going to Work in an MCU World]

Sony’s franchise was riddled with flaws from the very beginning, so its failure is completely understandable. However, one person who doesn’t seem to understand is Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra, who blames the critics for the films’ failure with audiences, telling The L.A. Times that, “Madame Web underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film, and it did great on Netflix. For some reason, the press decided that they didn’t want us making these films out of Kraven and Madame Web, and the critics just destroyed them. They also did it with Venom, but the audience loved Venom and made Venom a massive hit. These are not terrible films. They were just destroyed by the critics in the press, for some reason.”

However, while Sony may be putting the kibosh on the SSU, it still hasn’t given up on Spider-Man. On the animated side, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse were massive critical and financial hits for the studio, each of which garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film, with Into the Spider-Verse going home with the gold. A third film in the series, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, is currently in development.

And on the small screen, Sony has teamed up with Amazon Prime Video and MGM to create a live-action TV series based on the Spider-Man Noir character, with Nicolas Cage in the title role.