'Sinister Six' Could Still Happen, 'Into The Spider-Verse' Sequel Details Revealed
With the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse this weekend, and the global success of Venom, Sony has righted the Spider-ship that had sunk in the public's eyes after the disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Now, the future of Sony's Spider-Man universe is starting to look brighter — and more crowded with Spider projects — than ever. Among them: the long-gestating Sinister Six movie centering around the webslinger's biggest rogues, and a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel that, thanks to producer Amy Pascal, we now know more about.
A Sinister Six Movie is Still Happening
Former Sony co-chair Amy Pascal, who remains heavily involved in what the studio is internally calling Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters, or S.U.M.C., gave a lengthy interview with Vanity Fair about the future of the Sony Spider-Man franchises. Pascal has overseen the Spider-Man properties since the very first Tobey Maguire film, and spoke about how the webslinger's brand is stronger than ever following the commercial success of Venom and the critical hype for Into the Spider-Verse. With Spider-Man goodwill at an all-time high, Pascal confirms that Sony is planning to expand the franchise even further.
The studio is already moving ahead with all-female character spin-off of Into the Spider-Verse, while other Spider-Man villain films, starting with Morbius the Living Vampire starring Jared Leto, follow in the wake of Venom's success. And Venom's record-breaking box office may have just buoyed the long-gestating villain team-up Sinister Six, which Pascal confirmed is ready to go once original screenwriter and director Drew Goddard is ready to return:
"I'm just waiting for Drew to be ready to direct it. I would do anything with Drew Goddard. I'm just waiting for him to tell me he wants to."
Goddard, who has been busy with his most recent directorial outing Bad Times at the El Royale, has expressed interest in going back to the old Sinister Six script as recently as October, so it seems a matter of scheduling for both Goddard and Sony.
Into the Spider-Verse Sequel Will Focus on a Miles and Gwen Romance
Reports confirmed last month that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel is already in the works with Wonder Woman 1984 screenwriter David Callaham set to pen the script and Avatar: The Last Airbender's Joaquim Dos Santos set to direct. Pascal revealed a few more plot details about the film, which will heavily feature fan-favorite character Gwen Stacy, who will likely be pulling double duty alongside the all-female spin-off. More specifically, the sequel will focus on Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy's (Hailee Steinfeld) budding romance, "a thread from Lord's original script that ultimately didn't fit in Into the Spider-Verse," Vanity Fair writes.
A romance between Gwen Stacy and Spider-Man is part of comics history — though a romance with this Spider-Man in particular is a fairly new addition. Though Gwen has been linked to Peter Parker over the years — with their star-crossed romance playing out in live-action in The Amazing Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone — the recent Marvel NOW! series has started to build up a romance between Miles and Gwen, culminating in a kiss that made the cover of Spider-Man #12. It's likely that the Into the Spider-Verse sequel will take its cues from that run, much like how producers/screenwriters Phil Lord and Chris Miller took inspiration from Dan Slott's 2014 Spider-Verse comic-book run.
The Future of the Marvel and Sony Deal
With Sony starting to untangle the web of its Spider franchises, could it stand on its own two feet without Marvel Studios in the future? That's yet to be seen, though the unique deal that Sony and Marvel struck up to work Tom Holland's Peter Parker into the Marvel Cinematic Universe will inevitably expire. When that happens, "I think about crying," Pascal said. She added:
"I can only hope for a future where things work out. I've known Kevin since he was Avi's very, very quiet assistant, who for many years sat in that room listening to us and being so much smarter than any of us without any of us realizing. I will say that working with Marvel has been one of the highlights of my professional career."
It's all still up in the air, but we can expect to see Peter trading barbs with the Avengers for at least a few more movies.