Fans received their first official look at Sony's cancelled The Amazing Spider-Man spin-off movie, Sinister Six. Long before Tom Holland's Spider-Man joined the MCU, while Sony crafted a Spideyless villain universe out of Venom, Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter on the side, the studio had a different vision for its own Marvel universe. The plan was to center everything in the same universe as Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker, with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 acting as a jumping-off point for new spin-offs that were ultimately cancelled due to the movie's critical failure and financial disappointment.
The spin-off that got furthest into development was Sinister Six, written and directed by Daredevil creator Drew Goddard, before it was abandoned alongside the rest of The Amazing Spider-Man Universe. Over a decade after Sinister Six was cancelled, concept artist Victor J. Martinez took to Instagram to reveal a sneak peek at his work on the cancelled spin-off, featuring Spider-Man and a shower of meteors crashing down upon a prehistoric location with a volcano.
Thanks to Joanna Robinson's MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios book, fans know that Sinister Six would have taken Spidey to the Savage Land, a prehistoric-like setting from Marvel lore. The movie was even expected to feature a crazy scene in which "Spider-Man would ride a T-Rex" through the Savage Land.
Of course, it was Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man who was expected to face off with the Sinister Six in the Savage Land. Garfield even revealed that he had a "few meetings" about Sinister Six and declared that he "loved [Goddard's] vision."
The Spidey villain team-up was originally dated for release on November 11, 2016, landing between April 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the planned 2018 threequel, before it was ultimately axed by Sony Pictures.
Goddard confirmed to Variety recently that Sinister Six was cancelled "because of the [2014] Sony hack," in which details about the movie, its plotlines, and the studio's larger Spider-Man plans were leaked. The hack began in November 2014, and just months later, in February 2015, Sony announced its deal with Marvel Studios to bring Spidey into the MCU, nixing The Amazing Spider-Man universe.
What Else Do We Know About Sony's Cancelled Sinister Six Movie
The Amazing Spider-Man 2's post-credits scene set the stage for Sinister Six and a team led by Dane DeHaan's Green Goblin. A mysterious man in the shadows was helping Harry Osborn assemble his Sinister Six while he was locked away in the Ravencroft Institute, with the Rhino, Vulture, Doc Ock, Mysterio, and Kraven the Hunter teased as potential members for the ensemble.
Despite the clear Sinister Six setup, Goddard confirmed to IGN that he was "Not necessarily" bound to that line up and he was eager for his movie to "stand on its own." The filmmaker's vision involved "making everyone the protagonist and less about six-on-one," perhaps indicating that Sinister Six could have played out more akin to DC's Suicide Squad with six villains sent on a nescesary mission that may not be as simple as a fight with their archrival Spidey.
During an interview with Coy Jandreau in March, Drew Goddard revealed his vision for Sinister Six was akin to a "summer annual" in comics, which exists separately from the ongoing run and offered "one story that was bananas." The filmmaker made it clear that he wouldn't "screw up anyone's continuity" with his wild Savage Land story, set between The Amazing Spider-Man 2 & 3.
Sony Pictures finally got around to creating its interconnected Spider-Man cinematic universe from 2018's Venom to 2024's Kraven the Hunter, resulting in, for the most part, flop after flop. One of the biggest criticisms against the Spider-Man villain spin-offs was the lack of Spidey himself, but that wouldn't have been a problem with this original plan that involved Andrew Garfield's web-slinger.
