Sony had agreed to let Marvel make Spider-Man movies, while it continued to produce releases about Spider-Man characters instead. The idea for Sony was that they would make a movie franchise surrounding the world of Spider-Man villains and supporting characters. However, out of all their attempts, only Venom was a success, resulting in a successful trilogy. The other films, Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter, were all box office and critical failures and doomed anything that Sony had planned for the future. However, before all this happened, Sony had plans for a Sinister Six movie, and its failure to appear still seems like a missed opportunity.
In an interview with Drew Goddard, who was promoting the new movie Project Hail Mary, the director/writer explained to Collider what happened to the Sinister Six movie. “I had a big Spider-Man movie about the Sinister Six go down because of the Sony hack,” Goddard explained. “My office was right on the lot, and I saw the FBI swarm in and the helicopters fly over the studio. I was sad about it, but there was literally nothing I could do to change the course of events. I suppose it was better than if they hadn’t liked the script.”
What Was Happening At Sony With the Sinister Six Movie?
Sony has wanted to make a Sinister Six movie for over a decade now. The company tried to tease it in recent years with Vulture trying to enlist Morbius in the post-credit scene of that movie. However, Sony also teased it in the Andrew Garfield era when the Sinister Six was teased at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Looking back on that two-movie franchise, Lizard showed up in the first film, while Electro, Green Goblin, and Rhino showed up in the second. There was also a post-credit scene from the first Amazing Spider-Man movie that showed a mysterious room that included Doctor Octopus’s arms, among other things. Most fans believed this was scrapped when the MCU showed up and prematurely ended the Garfield Spider-Man franchise.
It seems there was more to it than that. The Sony Pictures hack of 2014 saw a hacker group leak confidential data from Sony Pictures Entertainment, including personal information about employees, copies of then-unreleased films, future film plans, screenplays, and other information. It appears that Drew Goddard’s Sinister Six movie script was part of those leaks, as were the behind-the-scenes emails between Sony co-chairperson Amy Pascal and the heads of Marvel Studios that saw them discussing Spider-Man being involved in the MCU. Thanks to this leak and the fans’ reaction, the Amazing Spider-Man franchise ended, and Spider-Man joined the MCU.
This meant that Drew Goddard’s Sinister Six was dead in the water, as was the unresolved storyline concerning Peter Parker’s father, who turned out to still be alive. However, on the good side, Tom Holland signed on to play Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming was green-lit, and the Wall-Crawler is now an important part of the MCU, one of their most successful superhero franchises.
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