Spider-Man sequel reportedly "scrapped" by Sony; future unclear

It's quite the time to be a Spider-Man fan. The Marvel Cinematic Universe's third Spidey movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home still has fans thinking about its game-changing moments almost three years on, with audiences ready to embrace the next step in the MCU saga. Marvel Studios also has an animated series, Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, on the horizon, and Sony is producing a live-action Spider-Man: Noir series (starring Nicolas Cage!) for MGM+ and Prime Video.

It's all happening in the Spider-Verse, especially now that Marvel and Sony have reportedly landed on Destin Daniel Crettin to direct Spider-Man 4. It's a moment that fans have been waiting for, and we are all ready to see Tom Holland and Zendaya - who are both set to return for the project - reunite on-screen to tell the next chapter in Peter Parker and MJ's love story. It's been a very long time coming, that's for sure!

However, speaking of being a long time coming, a new report suggests we might be waiting a bit longer for another Spider-Man movie. Yes, even though all is looking good on one end of the Spider-Verse, things are a little bit troubling in another part of it.

Sony reportedly scrapped Beyond the Spider-Verse, delaying it

According to industry insider Jeff Sneider (a.k.a. The InSneider), Sony scrapped most of upcoming animated movie Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse for creative reasons and it is now unlikely to release before 2027. The film is the long-awaited sequel to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and the third in the trilogy, spun out of the original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Those two movies have proven to be extremely successful and popular with audiences, with fans falling in love with Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen and all of the interesting variants they have met in the Spider-Verse; they are also critically-acclaimed, with the first one even receiving an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature - a rarity for superhero or comic book projects.

Needless to say, the reports of the next installment's current iteration being scrapped is disheartening. It means that Sony will have to go back to the drawing board, resulting in a much longer wait for the release than expected. And after it was recently taken off Sony's release calendar, that is unfortunately not surprising. But, again, it is disheartening, as the film initially had a 2024 release date.

Remember how Marvel and Sony are working on Spider-Man 4, which will likely release sometime in 2026? Well, that could also be a contributing factor in Beyond the Spider-Verse's delayed release, as Sneider points out that it is unlikely that Sony would want to release both films within the same year of each other.

2025 is also likely ruled out as a potential candidate as the year is on the horizon and there haven't been any updates from Sony about any immediate progress being made on it, so it's extremely unlikely that you should expect the film next year.

That leaves 2027 as the likely release window for the movie, allowing Sony enough time to get it right while also preventing it from clashing with Marvel Studios' Spider-Man movie. Given that both of the films have the potential to be huge box-office draws, releasing them too close together could impact their success or potentially confuse audiences due to the fact that the films take place in different universes.

We can't wait until we all can return to the Spider-Verse to catch up with Miles, but it will be some time before Beyond the Spider-Verse arrives on the big screen. Here's hoping that it arrives sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, Sony will continue to expand their live-action Spider-Verse with the releases of both Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter to look forward to this year.