Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) began with big dreams, starting with Venom in 2018. While it wasn’t perfect, Venom found commercial success, leading to its sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) and other spin-offs like Morbius (2022) and Kraven the Hunter.
Despite the potential, the SSU struggled to connect its films in a meaningful way, with each story feeling disconnected from the others.
One of the biggest issues was the SSU’s constant teasing of future storylines without fully delivering them. Films like Venom: Let There Be Carnage hinted at larger arcs, such as connections to Knull, but never explored them in-depth. This left fans waiting for more, but the promised narratives never came.
The SSU had exciting potential, especially with the idea of a villain-centric team-up film like Sinister Six. A movie featuring characters like Venom, Morbius, Kraven, and even Michael Keaton’s Vulture could have been a compelling antihero ensemble.
Instead, the franchise stayed stuck in a cycle of origin stories, never advancing to the epic stories fans were hoping for.
The best narratives in the SSU were clearly meant for future films, especially in the Venom trilogy. While the first two films were fun, they mostly served as setups for a more exciting third film, which never came to fruition.
A key problem was the SSU’s misunderstanding of its own identity. Although it was built around Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery, it struggled to portray its characters as villains.
Instead, the films often reimagined them as sympathetic antiheroes, which worked for some but felt forced for others, like Morbius and Kraven.
Perhaps the biggest issue was the absence of Spider-Man himself. Without the web-slinger, the SSU lacked a central figure to anchor its stories.
While it tried to build a villain-focused universe, it never quite justified this approach without Spider-Man at its core.
In the end, the SSU’s failure to capitalize on its potential, combined with its habit of teasing stories it never delivered, is why its untimely end is so disappointing.
The franchise had all the pieces for greatness, but never managed to put them together. Now, we’re left wondering what could have been if Sony had fully realized its ambitions.
