Sony’s attempt to build a wide-ranging franchise from Spider-Man’s extended character roster has reportedly hit another roadblock, as a previously announced spinoff centered on Spider-Woman is said to have been scrapped.
A new report suggests the studio has pulled the plug on the Spider-Woman film, reflecting continued contraction within Sony’s Spider-Man Universe initiative. The label has been used to describe Sony’s collection of Marvel-inspired films that operate separately from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, despite sharing character roots in Spider-Man comics.
For years, Sony has maintained the screen rights to Spider-Man and many related Marvel figures, enabling it to produce its own films beyond Marvel Studios’ direct control. Through a landmark agreement, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man appears in the MCU, but Sony has also tried to establish a parallel film series focused on adjacent heroes and villains.
That effort–often referred to as Sony’s Spider-Man Universe–produced films like Venom (2018), Morbius (2022), and Madame Web (2024). Venom connected strongly at the box office, but the follow-up titles struggled to generate similar results or reviews. Over time, several planned additions to the lineup were delayed, reworked, or abandoned as audience interest proved inconsistent. In 2024, the aforementioned Madame Web became one of the worst-performing movies in recent memory.
Now, another title appears to have joined the growing list of canceled projects.
Entertainment insider Daniel Richtman has reported via his Patreon (per The Direct) that Sony’s planned Spider-Woman movie is no longer moving forward. The project was first revealed in 2020 and attracted early attention when Olivia Wilde (Booksmart, The Invite) came aboard as director. At the time, the film was expected to spotlight Jessica Drew and potentially star Daisy Ridley, setting her up as a central figure in Sony’s expanding Spider-related slate.
But after its initial announcement, the production failed to gain traction. No official casting deals closed, filming never began, and a release date was never announced. News surrounding the project remained minimal for years. Based on the latest update, the studio has opted not to proceed.
The decision arrives after continued challenges for Sony’s Spider-Man-adjacent films led by villains or secondary characters, culminating in 2024's Kraven the Hunter underperforming at the box office two years ago. That performance added to industry skepticism about a connected franchise model that sidelines Spider-Man himself.
In Marvel Comics, Jessica Drew is recognized as one of the publisher’s more complex heroines, often featured in stories that combine covert operations, science fiction concepts, and traditional superhero stakes. The apparent end of the Spider-Woman film demonstrates how far Sony has moved from its earlier plans for a sprawling interconnected universe.
Sony’s broader Spider-Man strategy is not disappearing, but it is becoming more selective. The studio’s most dependable Marvel-related projects remain those produced alongside Marvel Studios. The next film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, is a joint Sony and Marvel Studios production starring Tom Holland and is slated for release this July as part of the MCU’s Phase Six slate.
Unlike the spinoff-focused titles, Holland’s entries are directly tied into Marvel’s larger storyline framework and continue to draw strong box office numbers and audience support.
As more standalone spinoffs are removed from the schedule, Sony’s separate Spider-Man Universe is being scaled back, while collaboration-based projects take priority. The company is still exploring other corners of the Spider-Man mythos for television, including the upcoming Spider-Noir series starring Nicolas Cage.
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