In an era where you can’t go six months without tripping over a Marvel Studios film or two, and even 20th Century Fox is promising a possible second Marvel Cinematic Universe beginning with next May’s impressive looking X-Men: Days of Future Past, it was only a matter of time until Sony also spun off its Spider-Man property into a much larger web.
During a presentation to Sony investors earlier today, Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal spoke about some of the designs the studio has for its most lucrative of web-heads.
“We are going to access Marvel’s full world of Spider-Man characters,” Pascal said during the presentation according to The Wrap. “So, be on the look out for new heroes and villains.”
How do you like that, true believers? The first indication would be to look at who is on the confirmed character list of the already supersized The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and guess which could carry their own film. And while nobody is quite as charismatic as Jamie Foxx, the role of Max Dillon aka Electro, at least from the comic book world, is not the kind to set the world on fire despite his superhuman abilities. That goes double for Rhino (Paul Giamatti).
However, when you peruse the comic books of Marvel, there are more than a few characters who have been spun off into their own titles before from Spidey’s illustrious history. Besides a big gun like Punisher, who has his own stalling film franchise that changes hands like an unregulated firearm, there is one name that immediately springs to mind: Venom. Consider that even though the previous cinematic incarnation of him, Topher Grace’s…controversial take on the character in Spider-Man 3 (2007) ended with him going up for a fireball, Sony and producer Avi Arad tried for years to make a spin-off film from that. Now, in a rebooted world where Andrew Garfield as Spidey and Marc Webb’s in charge, that would be much easier to pull off. Indeed, this fake cinema verté short film on the character with Ryan Kwanten as Venom released earlier this year would make for a great starting place.
But beyond the big tongue, there is the Black Cat, a character who has been both on the right and wrong side of the law. In fact, despite her thematic appearance bearing a slight similarity to a certain feline fatale at DC, Black Cat was the first to become a “good guy” or anti-hero first in the comics. And then there is the rumor that Felicity Jones has been cast as Felicia Hardy (Black Cat’s alter-ego), a rumor that the actress might have confirmed in an interview earlier this year.
So many possibilities for this universe to lay its web on…