When the majority of fans rejected Sony Pictures' vision for the web-slinger after The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the studio was left with no other option than to finally turn to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige for help.
The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and Sinister Six were scrapped, and Tom Holland was cast as the MCU's Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Sony, however, forged ahead with its Venom movie (set in a separate reality), and when that was a hit, Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter followed.
They were critical and commercial flops, and while the Venom franchise remained successful, each instalment grossed less than the last. El Muerto, Agent Venom, Spider-Woman, and more have since fallen by the wayside, news which comes as more of a relief than a disappointment.
Insider Daniel Richtman has shared an update today, reiterating previous reports from the trades that Sony "has effectively paused all plans for its live-action Spider-Man spin-offs."
However, the biggest talking point is that those include a "planned Knull project." As you'll likely recall, the villain was introduced in Venom: The Last Dance, with Andy Serkis lending his voice to the Symbiote's greatest foe (outside of Spider-Man).
At the time, there was speculation that Knull might be a Multiversal villain who menaced Spidey in this next MCU movie. If there were ever plans for a Venom team-up, it's not happening now, and the God of Symbiotes being the big bad of any franchise is likely off the table.
There had been plans for Knull to be teased in Kraven the Hunter, so chances are that's who Sony's Sinister Six was set to assemble to do battle with. Alternatively, he may have taken centre stage in the Agent Venom spin-off vaguely teased at the end of The Last Dance.
Here's what filmmaker Kelly Marcel told us about plans for Knull last October:
"So Knull actually was the first character we went in to design for this movie. Before Venom-Horse...Xenophage and Knull were the first two [characters] that went into the works in terms of design. We knew we had to get Knull right. He's a massive, massive fan favourite. We wanted to stick as close to the comics as possible in terms of what he looked like."
"We knew Andy Serkis would be Knull from Venom 2. He was our director on Venom 2; Tom and I were always talking on Venom 2 about what Venom 3 was going to be and we knew we wanted to introduce Knull in the way that we have."
"At the same time, looking at Andy Serkis every day as he's directing, [we're saying] 'Well, he's the greatest. Knull is CGI mo-cap and a lot of voice acting and there's only one person for that. He's the greatest. We always knew it would be Andy. We love Andy and it felt right. We've brought most of our team along with us for all three of these movies so we really want to keep it as a family. Andy is a massive part of the Venom family."
Are you disappointed that these Sony Marvel movies have fallen by the wayside ahead of Spider-Man: Brand New Day's release next year?