Sony has been trying to launch its own Spider-Man cinematic universe for over a decade now. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was meant to set up a Sinister Six spin-off along with a solo movie starring Silver Sable and Black Cat, but those plans changed when Andrew Garfield's saga came to an abrupt end. After Tom Holland joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Peter Parker, Sony pivoted to producing films centered around Spider-Man villains.
While the Venom trilogy found moderate box-office success, other projects like Madame Web and Morbius weren't well received by either critics or fans. As a result, the studio decided to change its approach one more time and released Spider-Noir—a live-action show that finally featured a Spider-Man variant as the protagonist.
Spider-Noir made Marvel history by winning five Emmys. Moreover, it surpassed 2.6 billion minutes watched during its first six weeks on Prime Video. Unfortunately, these feats weren't enough to warrant a second season, as the show was ultimately canceled by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios. Fortunately, Sony is now on the right track when it comes to producing more Spider-Man stories, and it appears the studio will have one more go at capturing lightning in a bottle.
A Spider-Man series based on the Clone Saga is close to being greenlit
As reported by Deadline, Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios are close to greenlighting a Spider-Man-related show based on the Clone Saga, starring Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker. Kelvin Yu, who created the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, will write and produce the series. Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, and Christopher Miller, who produced Spider-Noir, are also expected to produce the upcoming superhero show.
Deadline states that there are conflicting reports about the series, with some sources suggesting the story will follow Ben Reilly and Kaine as they both discover they are clones and come face-to-face with other rogue clones. Other sources hint that the titular characters may not be clones at all, implying their origin stories will be altered.
According to industry insider Daniel Richtman, the Clone Saga series will be a "buddy cop-style show," similar to Lanterns, and the main plot will revolve around Ben and Kaine discovering they are clones. This wouldn't be the first Marvel project that might attempt to capture some of the magic of the DCU series, as it has been reported that there will be a Heroes for Hire MCU Special Presentation that will be along the lines of True Detective and Lanterns.
The biggest question is how the upcoming show will tie into the greater MCU. The most likely answer is that the Clone Saga series will take place in its own separate timeline where Tom Holland's Peter Parker doesn't exist, much like Spider-Noir before it. However, a lot of other questions would then start to arise, such as: Who would be the "original" version of Spider-Man? Will we see a new variant of Peter Parker? Or will we have another "Spider-Noir scenario" where Peter is completely out of the equation?
It has been reported that Sony and Marvel have reached a new deal that allows Spider-Man-related characters and villains to appear in the MCU. However, it remains to be seen whether the deal works both ways, meaning Sony's projects would now be connected to Marvel's live-action franchise. After all, Tom Holland has shared that he'd be interested in working on an adaptation of the Clone Saga. As such, there could also be a chance (albeit very small) that the upcoming Spider-Man show will be part of the biggest MCU storyline.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether the project actually sees the light of day. After all, a Silk spin-off was also greenlit in 2022 but was eventually canceled. However, if the Clone Saga show does move forward, it will be interesting to see how its narrative plays out and whether it will be a completely isolated story without Peter Parker.
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