Sony Planned 8 Spider-Man Movies After ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’, Here’s What Happened
Long before Sony established its Venom franchise or collaborated with Marvel Studios, the company had ambitious plans for a much larger Spider-Man universe centered around Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Peter Parker. This vision diverged significantly from the Spider-Man universe that fans eventually experienced.
In the aftermath of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man,’ Sony created a creative “brain trust” aimed at weaving together a series of Spidey-related films that would interconnect with Garfield’s ongoing narrative. The objective was bold: to transform Spider-Man’s world into a cohesive franchise similar to the interconnected universes that superhero studios were beginning to pursue.
At the heart of this initiative were approximately eight distinct projects at various development stages, including direct sequels, villain team-ups, and character-driven spinoffs. This ambitious lineup illustrates just how expansive Sony’s vision was before it ultimately unraveled.
‘The Amazing Spider-Man 3’ was intended to follow Garfield’s journey as Peter Parker, with plans to introduce Mary Jane and explore the repercussions of Oscorp’s expanding web of secrets. A fourth film was also in the works, designed to serve as a culmination point where several of Sony’s other spinoff narratives would converge into a major crossover event.
Unfortunately, neither of these films advanced beyond the planning phase. Sony’s timeline underwent numerous changes as the studio shifted its focus to an expanding slate of spinoffs, ultimately delaying the third film for years before the entire project fell apart.
In addition to the core sequels, Sony was working on a villain-centric team-up titled ‘Sinister Six,’ with Drew Goddard set to write and direct a story featuring some of Spider-Man’s most infamous adversaries. A separate, darker spinoff focusing on Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote was also in development, with Alex Kurtzman slated to direct what was internally known as ‘Venom Carnage.’
Moreover, Sony was crafting a female-led team-up project featuring characters like Silver Sable, Black Cat, Spider-Woman, and Silk, alongside a solo film centered on Felicia Hardy, or Black Cat, with Lisa Joy attached to write. Completing the slate was a planned Spider-Man 2099 film focused on Miguel O’Hara, and a widely discussed spinoff centered on a younger Aunt May, envisioned as a 1960s-set espionage story.
Collectively, these eight projects represented a vision for the Spider-Man franchise that revolved largely around characters other than Peter Parker himself, years before this strategy would eventually shape Sony’s actual shared universe, starting with ‘Venom’ in 2018.
The release of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ in 2014, which received lukewarm reviews and underwhelming box office performance, marked a turning point for the entire plan. Coupled with the fallout from that year’s significant Sony cyberattack, which revealed internal studio documents detailing many of these unproduced projects, the pressure on the franchise’s future became insurmountable.
By November 2015, Sony had put a stop to the remaining spinoffs associated with Garfield’s version of the character, effectively concluding the Amazing Spider-Man universe before most of it even reached production. The studio subsequently struck a deal with Marvel Studios that same year, integrating Peter Parker into the MCU and paving the way for Tom Holland’s portrayal of the character.
This chapter in Spider-Man history is intriguing precisely because so much of it never came to fruition. Sony’s later Spider-Man Universe, which includes films like ‘Venom’ and ‘Kraven the Hunter,’ ended up reflecting several concepts from this original, abandoned slate, albeit with different actors, timelines, and years of hindsight separating them.
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