Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Live Action Spin-Offs Are Happening
Sony is developing a live-action Spider-Man movie about Miles Morales.
It’s Spider-Man’s world, and we’re just living in it. Variety reports that a slew of Spider-person-related projects are currently being developed by Sony, including a Spider-Woman spinoff featuring the character introduced in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Along with the presumably animated Spider-Woman film, Sony is also working on a live-action outing for Miles Morales.
You’ll see all of it,” said Amy Pascal in reference to all of Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man projects. “It’s all happening.” Avi Arad, another producer on Across the Spider-Verse, took things a step further and promised a Spider-Woman solo movie sooner than fans would expect. “It’s coming,” Arad promised.
Continuing the wealth of Spider-Man gossip from the Sony execs, Amy Pascal even confirmed that a fourth MCU Spider-Man movie starring Tom Holland and Zendaya was still in the works despite having to pause development temporarily due to the ongoing writer’s strike. “Nobody is working during the strike,” Pascal said before claiming to be a supporter of the writers on strike and promising not to continue pre-production on a fourth Spider-Man until everything was settled.
It’s exciting news for fans, but those with an eye for history might remember the last time Sony got cocky and put all their eggs in the Spider-Man basket.
In 2013, Sony pinned the future of their Spider-Man universe on the still-in production The Amazing Spider-Man 2 starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. The company wanted a cinematic universe to rival Marvel and put easter eggs in ASM2 meant to tease sequels and spin-offs galore. Included in Sony’s plans were a pair of Sinister Six films starring Spidey’s most challenging foes, a Venom solo film, a Black Cat film, and a Spider-Man 2099 spin-off. Then The Amazing Spider-Man 2 came out…
To say The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a disappointment is an understatement. The movie’s failure singlehandedly put an end to Sony’s copycat MCU and may have been what led to the company finally agreeing to a deal with Disney that would allow for Spider-Man to appear in their Marvel films. As fans know, a Venom solo film was eventually made starring Tom Hardy as the toothy symbiote.
Similarly, Spider-Man 2099 eventually found his way onto the big screen in an after-credits scene in 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse as well as a much larger role in the film’s sequel releasing this weekend. A pseudo-version of the Sinister Six appeared in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home consisting of villains from Sony’s various live-action Spider-Man franchises. The studio was lucky to see most of its aborted projects come to life in one form or another, but it’s still a far cry from the future Sony intended for its web-shooting cash cow.
While Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is bound to be a million times more successful critically and commercially than The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony still has another problem to worry about, oversaturating the market for Spider-powered superheroes. In addition to its surprise hit Venom franchise and its not-surprise flop Morbius, Sony has a Kraven the Hunter film coming out starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson as well as the upcoming Madame Web, which features a different version of Spider-Woman played by Sydney Sweeney, a character the studio is no doubt planning to give her own spin-off if Web does well.
Add to that Sony’s animated Spider-Verse movies, including the above-announced Spider-Woman spin-off, a rumored possible return vehicle for the Andrew Garfield version of Spider-Man, and the planned live-action Miles Morales movie, and that’s a whole lot of super-powered arachnids running around. Will audiences already suffering from so-called superhero fatigue pay to see all these Spider-Men and Women swinging around and punching mostly animal-themed villains?
Only time will tell.
