I'm Devastated The Sony Spider-Man Universe Ended Just After Setting Up Its 2 Most Promising Marvel Stories

Despite the franchise’s rather rocky history, I’m actually disappointed that Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has ended because I think its best was still to come. After years of teasing epic Marvel storylines and gradually assembling pieces for larger-than-life narratives, the SSU ended just as it began laying the groundwork for its two most promising stories. This untimely demise leaves me wondering what could have been, especially since the franchise seemed on the verge of its most exciting chapters.

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe started ambitiously with Tom Hardy’s Venom in 2018. While it wasn't perfect, Venom found commercial success, paving the way for its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), and other spin-offs like Morbius (2022) and Kraven the Hunter. However, despite its potential, the SSU struggled to connect its narratives cohesively. Each film’s story felt like a puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit with the others, often missing the spark needed to elevate its characters beyond their origin stories.

The SSU Kept Teasing Amazing Narratives, But Never Actually Showed Them

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One of the SSU’s greatest frustrations was its reliance on teasing future storylines rather than actually delivering them. Nearly every film spent significant energy laying the groundwork for narratives that were always just out of reach. For example, Venom: Let There Be Carnage hinted at the larger symbiote lore, introducing tantalizing connections to Knull without fully exploring them.

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Knull’s invasion of Earth - a storyline that could have brought cosmic stakes and tied together disparate elements of the SSU – was one of the most tantalizing. However, this remained a dangling thread, left unexplored by the franchise’s premature end. Similarly, Morbius featured a puzzling post-credits scene that teased the formation of the Sinister Six.

While the execution left much to be desired, the potential for a villain-centric team-up film was undeniably exciting. A Sinister Six movie could have united the likes of Venom, Morbius, Kraven, and even Michael Keaton’s Vulture, creating a compelling antihero ensemble to rival the MCU’s Avengers. But rather than diving into this rich potential, the SSU seemed stuck in an endless cycle of origin stories, never advancing to the climactic narratives that many were waiting for.

The SSU's Best Narratives Would Have Come In The Sequels

The SSU’s most compelling narratives were clearly reserved for future installments. This is particularly evident when examining the Venom trilogy. While the first two films were entertaining in their own right, they are best interpreted as setups. Venom: The Last Dance ended up as the series’ pinnacle, with the trilogy only just hitting its stride.

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Beyond Venom: The Last Dance, numerous thrilling narratives were set up for the SSU.A follow-up to Kraven the Hunter could have delved deeper into his morally complex version of justice, while a Morbius sequel had the opportunity to course-correct and better integrate its titular character into the SSU’s larger tapestry. These films might have finally shifted the franchise’s focus from setup to payoff, delivering on the grand narratives hinted at in earlier installments. Unfortunately, the SSU’s abrupt conclusion has left these stories untold.

The SSU Kept Missing The Point Of Its Own Franchise

A major flaw of the SSU was its apparent misunderstanding of its own identity. While the franchise was ostensibly built around Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery, it failed to effectively embrace what made these characters compelling. Instead of portraying them as villains, the SSU reimagined its leads as sympathetic antiheroes. This approach worked to some extent with Venom but felt forced in other cases, such as Morbius and Kraven.

By turning its villains into protagonists, the SSU diluted the darker, morally ambiguous appeal that sets Spider-Man’s rogues apart from traditional heroes. Moreover, the SSU lacked a unifying vision. Each film operated in isolation, with little effort to build toward a cohesive climax. Unlike the MCU’s methodical construction of interconnected storylines, the SSU’s narratives felt disjointed, as though they were competing rather than collaborating.

Most glaringly, the absence of Spider-Man himself left the franchise without a central figure to anchor its stories. While the SSU attempted to carve out a niche as a villain-focused universe, it struggled to justify this approach without the web-slinger at its core. In the end, the SSU’s failure to capitalize on its potential - combined with its penchant for setting up stories it never delivered - underscores why its untimely end feels so devastating.

The pieces for greatness were there, littered throughout the franchise as scraps of excitement. However, the franchise never managed to put them together. And now, we’re left wondering what could have been if the SSU had been given the chance to fully realize its ambitions.

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