Spider-Man: No Way Home is on the tip of many a tongue right now in the comic book movie fandom. The Multiversal threequel will blow open the Spidey history book, incorporating villains from Spider-Man movies passed into the MCU.
And the inclusion of these antagonists has brought up some interesting questions - questions made even more confusing when Tom Holland's Spider-Man showed up at the end of Venom: Let there be Carnage. One has to remember that there isn't just one studio at play when dealing with the famed wall-crawler, as Sony still owns the film rights to the character and those related to him.
While Marvel Studios has a deal in place to have Tom Holland's Spidey play around in the MCU, Sony has been developing a webhead universe of its own with Venom and the upcoming Morbius and Kraven the Hunter.
There hasn't been much noise regarding the studio's plans with the Sony Spider-Man Universe past Kraven, but it seems this is only just the beginning.
Sandman and Rhino Movies on the Way
Known insider Daniel Richtman revealed on his Patreon account that Sony Pictures is currently developing Sandman and Rhino spin-off films as a part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe (aka the SSU).
Richtman simply posted "Sony developing Sandman and Rhino solo films" on his page without any further information.
When will Sony Stop with Spidey Villains?
It seems that Sony Pictures has an M.O. here and is sticking to it. While they are profiting from having Tom Holland's Peter Parker participate in the MCU, they get their own slice of the pie by dipping into Spidey's rogue gallery.
Now thus far, while this effort has produced financial success, the SSU has not done the best critically. But it is a business, so the mighty dollar does say a lot.
One does have to wonder though, at what point does this no longer make sense for Sony? Sure, Venom is a big enough character to warrant his own movie financially. The Symbiote has become almost as big as Peter Parker himself, so putting Venom and Eddie Brock into a solo movie makes sense. It is beyond that where problems may start to arise.
January's Morbius is going to be very telling with how this is going to go moving forward. The vampiric anti-hero is known by lovers of comics and cartoons, but beyond that, not so much.
And that feels like a very similar case to how a Rhino or Sandman movie would turn out. Sandman has levels to his character, enough so to carry the narrative of an entire film; Rhino, however, doesn't exactly scream emotional depth, so that could spell some issues.
The SSU is starting to feel a little like the Sony of 2012, where plans for Sinister Six, Aunt May, and Black Cat movies were being set up in the Amazing Spider-Man series. They seem like they might be putting the cart before the horse here, and developing some of these movies simply for the sake of having them.
