While Tom Holland's Peter Parker is expected to remain part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for years to come, the future is far less certain for Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU).
The Future of Sony's Spider-Man Film Series
The SSU was Sony's attempt to build a separate corner of Marvel's universe centered around Spider-Man's supporting characters and villains. Unlike Holland's Spider-Man films, these movies did not feature the web-slinger himself, instead focusing on characters who traditionally exist within his world.
The franchise began with Venom (2018), starring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, which became a major box-office success and led to two sequels: Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) and Venom: The Last Dance (2024). The studio then expanded the universe with villain-focused spin-offs including Morbius (2022), starring Jared Leto, Madame Web (2024), starring Dakota Johnson, and Kraven the Hunter (2024), starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
However, outside of the Venom movies, the SSU struggled to find success. While Morbius earned $167.5 million worldwide, it received widespread criticism, while Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter both underperformed at the box office.
Related: ‘Spider-Man' End-Credits Multiverse Glitch Sets Up Possible Tobey Maguire Return
Earlier this year, Sony chairman and CEO Tom Rothman revealed that the franchise would be moving in a new direction with a “fresh reboot” featuring “new people.”
Speaking on The Town podcast (via The Hollywood Reporter), Rothman was asked, “Where are we in the Spider-Man franchise? Not the animated Spider-Verse. Is the larger Spider-Verse dead?” He responded that the franchise was being reworked.
Recently, in light of the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), which has already grossed $942 million worldwide, Rothman was asked by Variety about the future of Sony's Marvel characters and why the studio's villain-focused films had struggled.
“Ultimately, the audience wasn't satisfied enough with them,” he said, adding, “Whether that's a fair assessment of those movies, who knows. That's howling into the wind. The audience is the boss, and they didn’t respond. It's as simple as that.”
When asked whether Sony had plans to continue developing its Marvel characters, Rothman said, “Right now, we don't know,” explaining that the studio never viewed those projects as a formal shared universe.
“We never looked at it as the ‘Sony-Marvel Universe.' We looked at if there were worthwhile movies to make with other characters. At the moment, there are none in active development.”
The only exception appears to be Sony's upcoming fully animated Venom feature, which remains in development. However, it is expected to exist independently of the now-stalled live-action Spider-Man Universe.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now in theaters.
The film stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Zendaya as Michelle “MJ” Jones-Watson, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/Punisher, Tramell Tillman as Bill Metzger, Michael Mando as Mac Gargan/Scorpion, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, and Sadie Sink as the X-Men mutant Jean Grey.
Do you think Sony made the right decision with its Spider-Man franchise? Would you like to see these characters return, or is it time to move on? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
