Sony’s Spider-Verse is building up projects with no Parker to ponder (yet)

Outside of Tom Holland’s MCU iteration of Peter Parker, the world continues to grow – even if it has no current Peter Parker to call its own. If you lost count, the Sony Spider-Verse has two Venom films (and a third on the way), a Morbius film (with a villain returning from the MCU at the conclusion), an upcoming film about long-time spider villain Kraven the Hunter, and now Madame Web due on Feb. 14th, 2024. The first trailer plays almost like a Final Destination-esque vibe as it relies on showing Cassandra Webb’s (Dakota Johnson) ability to see the future. But it is of note, that this is Sony’s first pure superhero standalone film. Is it possible that characters like Cassandra, Julia Carpenter (Sydney Sweeney), Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Conner), and Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced) could take up the mantle of the heroes in this universe? Possibly. There sure are a lot of anti-heroes running around.

Time is being finagled within the multiverse saga, and Cassandra and Ezekiel Sims’ (Tahar Rahim) ability to see the past and future could be a bridge if Marvel and Sony go down that road. Anytime it seems like both Marvel and Sony’s universe might merge, we get a sudden jolt out of that thought process. Remember when Tom Hardy’s Venom was in the MCU for what felt like 3.5 seconds before he was transported back? Exactly. But Sony seems to have a lot of plans regardless of what route the MCU goes. There are talks of a live-action Miles Morales film and an animated Spider-Woman feature.

Sony looks like they are up to something, even if the first Madame Web trailer was a little overwhelming to the untrained Spidey eye. Will it sustain itself without the classic hero (maybe Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire)? That remains to be seen. Will fans be receptive to what is going on? The whimsical nature of Venom has done some good, while Morbius may not have (we did get the odd “It’s Morbin Time” meme). With Marvel looking to slow down and undergo a bit of restructuring in how they tell stories, it might give Sony some inroads.