While with great power comes great responsibility, a good superhero often involves a good nemesis, a good supervillain. As Batman and the Joker. The recent Spider-Man: Now Way Home had brought back all of Spider-Man’s enemies, if not a little more, thanks to the multiverse: Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, Electro, the Lizard, the Sandman, and even Venom for a post- generic. The latter also had the right to his own film with Tom Hardy in 2018 and a sequel in 2021. However, other nemeses of Spidey are expected on the big screen, this Wednesday with Morbiusthen in early 2023 with Kraven the hunter. Before a hypothetical Sinister Sixthe Evil Avengers?
Villains Not So Villains
Other villains have already distinguished themselves in solo, like the Punisher or the Suicide Squad, but it is more reasonable to speak of anti-heroes. It’s the bias of the film Morbius, directed by Daniel Esponisa and starring Jared Leto. Doctor Michael Morbius is stricken with a rare blood disease, and when he believes he has found a cure, he transforms into a superpowered but bloodthirsty vampire. Introduced in 1971 as an opponent of Spider-Man but also of Blade, Morbius quickly became a tragic figure, an anti-hero, and made him the hero of his own comic book series.
Although he could be considered the sworn enemy of Spider-Man, Venom does not return this image at all in his cinema adaptation with a comedic approach, from buddy movie between Eddie Brock and his symbiote. Moreover, Venom, Morbius or Kraven are never the “real” villains of their films, with always a Nemesis of Nemesis, so to speak. The trailer of Morbius also does not sell a villain or an anti-hero but “a new Marvel legend”.
Sony ready Spiderman and focuses on the villains
While it took eight films Batman before having a movie Jokerwith Joaquin Phoenix, the gallery of villains of Spiderman begins to take his ease in the cinema. They should even have arrived earlier in the room. Indeed, it’s time to remember that unlike other Marvel superheroes, the cinema rights of Spiderman do not belong to Disney/Marvel Studios but to Sony. After the 2012 reboot with Andrew Garffield, the studio intended to fully exploit the license and wanted to make The Amazing Spider-Man 2 the launch pad for several spin-offs, devoted to the Sinister Six, Venom and Carnage or even Black Cat. And thus create their own universe, the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, in parallel with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
A pool of 900 Spidey-related characters
Unfortunately, the critical and public failure of the film forces them to revise their plans. Sony decides to “lend” Spider-Man to Marvel Studios, and thus integrate him into the MCU, to restore his image, and to focus, on their side, on solo films and independent of each other. The success of Venom is the sign they were waiting for, and they relaunch their projects, including Morbius, Kraven the hunter and always Sinister Sixwhich Drew Goddard should and still should achieve (The cabin in the woods).
Still, the multiverse has been there, and the SSU and MCU are no longer so impermeable to each other, as evidenced by Spider-Man: No Way Homebut also Morbius in an umpteenth and sacrosanct post-credits scene. Sony owns the rights to nearly 900 characters directly or indirectly related to Spider-Man, and perhaps as many films and series. According to Tony Vinciquerrathe CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, “the next 7-8 years of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe are already planned.”