Every Marvel ‘Spider-Verse’ movie Sony has in the works

All signs suggest Spider-Man is out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Sony and Marvel Studios passed on a deal to continue their 2015 partnership. Tom Holland is reportedly contracted for at least two more Spider-Man movies, but what it means for his future films is murky. Will there be any mention of Iron Man? Wasn’t Peter Parker basically set up to become a mainstream Avenger in Far From Home? Will he ever ride a pegasus ever again?

Based on a statement about the breakup, Sony doesn’t seem worried. The studio has a full slate of Spider-Man related projects in the works separate from the MCU. The financial success of Venom proved that the studio could strike box office gold on its own.

With a full arsenal of Spider-Man related characters, the company is ready to build its own robust cinematic universe. Most of the live-action movies will belong to the same universe — dubbed Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters (or SUMC for short) — while the animated Spider-Verse movies exist, for now, within their own little bubble.

So what’s next for Sony’s Spider movies without the MCU to lean on? Here are all the films currently in the works, both announced and rumored.

Marvel

Morbius the Living Vampire (2020)

Prince of Darkness himself Jared Leto will play the antihero who’s a vampire, but not really. Morbius is a “pseudo-vampire” whose abilities — superhuman strength and agility, enhanced healing, and the whole craving blood thing — come from a scientific experiment gone wrong. Adria Arjona (Good Omens) will play Morbius’ fiance, with Matt Smith (Doctor Who) as Loxias Crown, one of Morbius’ close friends.

Written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (who are behind the Netflix remake of Lost in Space), directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), and produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach with Lucas Foster, the Morbius film was announced in November 2017. It is set to be released on July 31, 2020.

Photo: Sony Pictures

Venom 2 (2020)

The success of 2018’s Venom naturally set up a return of Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock/Venom. Woody Harrelson’s cameo at the end as Cletus Kasady promises a formidable showdown. Director and actor Andy Serkis — who incidentally played played Ulysses Klaue in the MCU — signed on to direct in August. Venom 2 has a projected release date of Oct. 2, 2020.

Sony Pictures Animation

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2

Talks of a sequel to the Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse started buzzing before the movie even came out, with Sony putting the project into development in November 2018. The proposed sequel comes from director Joaquim Dos Santos (Voltron: Legendary Defenders), with David Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) writing. It will continue Miles’ story, likely as he continues to tackle the role of Spider-Man in his world.

Sony Pictures Animation

Spider-Verse spinoff

A movie focusing on three generations of female Spider-related characters was announced around the same time a sequel to Spider-Verse was. Spider-Gwen will return, with Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) and Cindy Moon (Silk) also joining. Lauren Montgomery (Voltron: Legendary Defenders) will direct, with Bek Smith writing the script.

Kraven the Hunter

In August 2018, news broke that Richard Wenk (The Equalizer 2) was set to write a screenplay focused on Kraven the Hunter, one of the Spider-Verse’s most persistent antagonists and the half-brother of Chameleon, a supervillain master of disguise with a similar penchant for antagonizing Spider-Man.

Wenk’s attachment is currently the only known information about the Kraven the Hunter project.

Nightwatch

In March 2018, Variety reported that Spike Lee was in talks to direct the Nightwatch film. Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker was rumored to be writing the script. Lee exited the project in October 2018.

Nightwatch is a hero who appears in the Spider-Man comics. The alter ego of scientist Dr. Kevin Trench, he is prompted to heroism after watching a masked hero die in a battle with terrorists. The kicker? After approaching the dead man, Trench discovers that the man in costume is an older version of himself. Though he initially tries to avoid this fate, he ultimately makes it his mission to discover the mystery behind his alternate self.

Aside from the rumored director and screenwriter, there’s no other information on the Nightwatch project.

Marvel Comics

The Sinister Six

A movie based on the villainous group had floated around Sony since 2013, with Drew Goddard attached to direct, but got put on hold around 2015 after Sony’s deal with Marvel. But the success of Venom has renewed interest in this project. The Sinister Six features a rotating lineup of Spider-Man villains, but the original set was made up of Doctor Octopus, Kraven the Hunter, Electro, Mysterio, Sandman, and Vulture. United by a hatred of Spider-Man, the Six plotted to kill him — though none of them wanted to relinquish the chance to be the one to defeat Spider-Man, so they planned to draw straws to see who got the honor.

The original vision for the SInister six movie, however, very much leaned on Spider-Man.

“Part of the fun of the movie was discovering who was in the movie, but I’ll say this: It was very much a Spider-Man movie,” Goddard told Polygon last fall. “It was very much about why I love that character so much and what it means to be Spider-Man, and it was designed very much to be a stand-alone Spider-Man story.”

With two of those already in the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies — and Kraven, apparently on the way — it’ll be interesting to see if villains are plucked for a revived Sinister Six movie.

Jackpot

Jackpot, a mother and superhero in her mid-forties, is also slated to get her own film in Sony’s expanded Spider-Verse.

Jackpot’s primary alias is Sara Ehret, a scientist working at an Oscorp subsidiary researching gene therapy treatments to cure Parkinson’s disease. After being exposed to an experimental virus while pregnant, Sara fell into a coma, only to wake up and deliver her child four months later. She also gained superhuman strength and invulnerability as a result of the virus’ effects on her genes. Sara eventually retired to spend more time with her family, and Alana Jacobson purchased her name and superhero license, using enhancement drugs (including the famous Mutant Growth Hormone) to mimic Jackpot’s powers.

Sony is currently actively seeking script writers for the project, but there’s no other production details available for the film.

Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Enterainment

Black Cat

Originally, Black Cat aka Felicia Hardy was going to appear alongside Silver Sable in Silver and Black, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, but Sony shelved the project and stated that each character would get a solo film instead.

“We believe Black Cat is enough of her own character with a great backstory and a canon of material to draw from to justify her own film,” Columbia Pictures president Sanford Panitch told Variety. Black Cat is a notorious cat burglar with the ability to manipulate probability fields. Through her various appearances, she’s been an enemy, love interest and ally of Spider-Man.

In July 2018, representatives of Prince-Bythewood told Polygon that the director remained attached to direct one of the Spider-verse movies, but it’s unclear if that remains true. According to recent announcements, she is still set to produce. Sony has said that they would seek a female director.

Silver Sable

While it sounds like Black Cat’s project is currently taking precedence, Silver Sable’s solo film is still on the way.

Silver Sable is a mercenary who hunts war criminals and has acted both as ally and antagonist to Spider-Man in various comic storylines. Silver Sable leads the Wild Pack, a team of mercenaries that, along with her company Silver Sable International, support her home country of Symkaria, a fictional nation in Eastern Europe.

As with Black Cat’s solo film, it’s currently uncertain whether Prince-Bythewood is involved with Silver Sable’s solo film.

Silk

Korean-American superhero Silk (real name Cindy Moon) is also slated to get her own movie in the SUMC. In recent canon, Cindy Moon is one of Peter Parker’s classmates and is bitten by a radioactive spider around the same time as him. She gains superhuman speed, the ability to shoot silken webs out of her fingertips and an enhanced Spider-Sense known as the Silk Sense. She made a small appearance in the MCU film Spider-Man: Homecoming, portrayed by Tiffany Espensen, but it’s unknown whether the actress would even be the same.

Producer Amy Pascal is attached to the project. There is no release date or further production news.