Sony has begun to ambitiously plot out its own Marvel universe by hiring two new directors for its upcoming superhero films.
On two consecutive days, the state of Sony’s upcoming film slate was made clearer, with the reveal that Booksmart director Olivia Wilde would be helming a female Spider-man property and Triple Frontier director J.C Chandor would be taking a stab at another property.
Olivia Wilde who has had a modest career as a film and TV actress, is best known for her stint on TV shows such as House and films like Her recently made waves with her debut feature, Booksmart. Now it looks like she will be bringing the character of Spider-Woman to life for the first time. Spider-Woman is the moniker of the superhero character Jessica Drew in the comics and she possess abilities similar to Spider-man except she also has super-human strength and can discharge bio-electricty.
Olivia Wilde is reportedly making a Marvel movie for Sony… and it might be Spider-Woman!
So we decided to take a look at every Spider-Man movie spin-off in development: https://t.co/3lwLEw8guK pic.twitter.com/Iu6gqNQUem
— IGN (@IGN) August 20, 2020
Kraven The Hunter
Kraven The Hunter is also being developed by Sony. The comic revolves around Sergei Kravinoff aka Kraven the Hunter, who is one of Spider-Man’s best known and most formidable enemies as well as the half-brother of the Chameleon.
The character has appeared in numerous Spider-Man properties including the popular story Kraven’s Last Hunt. With Chandor attached to the project now, the film is now fast tracked and finally in preproduction after years of development hell.
Both films will soon commence casting. Sony is hard at work developing other films for its universe. The Spider-Woman film will be the second film based around a female character in Sony’s universe of Marvel characters to land a director after S.J. Clarkson was tapped to direct a Madame Webb movie. Sony is also developing Black Cat and Silver Sable movies.
Sony’s Own Marvel Universe
1 year ago today, Spider-Man was taken out of the MCU after Sony & Disney failed to reach new terms.
Thankfully, Disney & Sony made a new agreement and Spider-Man is staying in the MCU for the foreseeable future.
What was your reaction when Spidey left the MCU? pic.twitter.com/KZp3WgQkto
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) August 20, 2020
Relationship between Marvel Studios and Sony
Those who do not know the complicated relationship between Marvel Studios and Sony, might be unaware of the fact that Sony has access to all of Spider-man universe comics and their live action adaptations. While Marvel comics and its namesake film and TV studio is owned by Disney, Sony was able to take a slice of the pie back when Marvel wasn’t doing so well.
Over the years, it has failed to establish its universe well. Most recently, it decided to produce movies in such a way that Marvel Studios could co-produce the Spider-man movies, while leaving the other Spider-man side characters to Sony. This means that while Spider-man Homecoming and Far From Home were supervised by Marvel boss Kevin Feige, Tom Hardy’s Venom and Jared Leto’s upcoming Morbius, are entirely different beasts.
While the Spider-man films starring Tom Holland have shied away from referencing other properties such as Venom and stuck in the Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe sphere, with so many Sony characters coming to play we may get a Sony cross over movie soon.
Read More: From Captan Marvel to Spider Man: 10 Most Powerful Avengers
Venom sequel
Venom sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius are both movies set in Tom Holland’s Spidey world but not really the MCU. So while we can expect characters including Peter Parker himself to cross paths with these characters, you won’t be seeing Thor or Black Panther in Sony’s world anytime soon.