In news sure not to excite anyone in particular, Kraven the fresh new Huntsman is now in theaters. The latest and most likely last live-action spin-off flick for Sony's unfortunate cinematic universe is limping towards a humiliating starting sunday with scathing reviews (and additionally IGN's), marking an ignominious end for what's been one of the worst years ever for the superhero genre. While no major superhero franchise is at its best right now, with the MCU struggling to get back to the heights of the Infinity Saga and Warner Bros. betting big on James Gunn's upcoming Superman tinder dating service review reboot to get DC back on track, none have been as consistently lackluster as the Sony Spider-Man Universe (SSU). Or is it the Sony World of Wonder Characters (SUMC)?
Whatever this franchise was supposed to be called, it's all but certainly over. The latest Link recently reported that Sony Pictures is seeking to shutter this flailing enterprise after Kraven the Hunter so they can put all their focus on the upcoming Spider-Man 4 and Beyond the Spider-Verse. Good on them for cutting their losses and not subjecting us to any more of this nonsense, but the real question is: How did anyone think this was going to turn out differently? None of these movies were particularly good (sorry, Venom fans) and they all starred characters who are defined by their relationships to Spider-Man, a character they weren't allowed to meet. This series was always going to fail, even if someone managed to wrangle a worthwhile movie out of the situation. Let's take a look at why Sony's Marvel Universe was doomed before it even started.
Spider-Man: Civil Battle
The fresh Sony Universe has long been a mysterious monster due to the unconventional rights disease it is present inside. Sony Photographs retains the movie legal rights to your Examine-Man business, but pursuing the critical and you will financial dissatisfaction of the Incredible Examine-Guy dos for the 2014, Sony chose to share Examine-Man having Ponder Studios and allow Peter Parker so you're able to move toward brand new MCU, in which he's since started played of the Tom The netherlands. However, Sony got currently been advancement to your several twist-out-of projects inside the TASM weeks, like Venom and you will Sinister Half dozen video clips. Sony demonstrably desired to exploit a lot of Question characters they had the means to access, although centerpiece of your own team, Spider-Guy, is today taking part in the net of what is commercially their competitor.
The fresh new solamente Examine-People clips one appeared once was an indicator of the passive-aggressive arrangement you to definitely Disney and you can Sony strike. Homecoming and far From your home was basically drowning inside records with the large MCU, making certain that it might be difficult for Sony just to sign up for of your own arrangement instead of upsetting fans and you can shareholders who would concern why Holland's now very popular form of the smoothness is actually no extended in the same business because the his Avengers friends, while you are Not a chance Household put brute push locate items out of characters of Sony's non-MCU companies with the legitimacy to your power of one's multiverse. But nothing of that change that Sony's connection to new wide Wonder brand is actually interestingly that-sided, something which even standard audience was basically with the capacity of cluing into.
It's laughable that an excellent movie universe full of Examine-People characters doesn't now have Examine-People with it.
The in association with Marvel logo that Sony was forced to use and the clear indication that they weren't allowed to feature Spider-Man in their spin-off films created an omnipresent feeling of Sony's films being a B-side to the MCU. Regardless of how many times Tom Hardy or others teased Venom meeting Spider-Man, the entire Venom trilogy arrived and you will ran without the two characters ever crossing paths. Same with Morbius, Madame Web, and now Kraven, with the closest thing to a proper Peter Parker appearance outside of Let There Be Carnage's post-credits scene being him being born in Madame Web. It's laughable that a cinematic universe filled with Spider-Man characters doesn't actually have Spider-Man in it, but that fact ruined the series in more ways than one.