After the critical and commercial failure of Kraven the Hunter, it was announced that Sony's Spider-Man Universe would come to a definitive end.
While the Venom franchise was able to find success on the big screen, titles like Madame Web and Morbius failed to connect with audiences worldwide. The very concept of creating a series of films starring supervillains without a hero to fight was flawed from the beginning. So, just when it seemed Sony had a clear direction of where to go next with the arrival of Knull, it all came to an end.
The death of the SSU was followed by reports that Sony would be more open to sharing its Spider-Man characters with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, unlike before. After all, Kraven was eyed to be one of the main antagonists in the Black Panther movie, but Sony prevented that from happening. Furthermore, it was rumored that Tom Holland's Spider-Man couldn't fight against villains used in the SSU, which meant the wall-crawler would not meet the likes of Morbius and Venom.
For a time, superhero fans believed Sony would shift its focus to expanding its animated universe (especially with the announcement of the animated Venom movie). Meanwhile, Spider-Man characters would slowly start to take over the MCU. However, it seems there's a new plan in store.
Sony intends to reboot its interconnected Spider-Man universe
The CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Motion Picture Group, Tom Rothman, was interviewed on The Town podcast. During this conversation, host Matt Belloni asked whether Sony would reboot the larger, live-action Spider-Verse universe at some point with new people, to which Tom Rothman answered a simple yet decisive: "Yes."
This would mark the third time Sony would try to build an interconnected universe featuring Spider-Man characters from the ground up. The very first time, the studio intended to release spin-offs such as Sinister Six and Silver & Black set in The Amazing Spider-Man saga. Ultimately, Andrew Garfield's time as the wall-crawler came to an end, and Spidey was rebooted within the MCU.
Keen on having a big superhero franchise under its hands, Sony eventually released films like Venom, Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter, but they were met with very underwhelming results. Now, it's confirmed they will do it all over again. Third time's a charm, right?
Interestingly, it seems there will be a key difference in the new, upcoming iteration of the SSU that might give it an upper hand over previous failed attempts. Back in December 2025, insider That REDACTED Guy revealed that Sony would keep making live-action Spider-Man spin-offs after the release of Avengers: Secret Wars, but this time, they would be set in the mainline MCU.
Avengers: Secret Wars is confirmed to mark a soft-reboot for the MCU, with the many different branched timelines converging into one and old heroes being recast and jumping into action once again. With such a big change on the horizon, it would be the perfect time for Sony to try to tie its Spider-Man movies into the bigger MCU. That would allow for characters like Venom and Morbius not only to cross paths with the wall-crawler himself, but other beloved Marvel heroes as well.
Tom Rothman stated that Sony's partnership with Marvel "is great," so there could be a chance that the two are really planning to join their cinematic universes in the future. After all, Sony has learned that it finds more success when partnering with the MCU, and upcoming Marvel productions could definitely benefit from having more Spider-Man villains in the mix. The cherry on top? Fans would finally witness all of these iconic characters under the same roof.
Let's just hope that Sony isn't intending to launch a solo, disconnected universe for the third time in a row. Otherwise, we'll find ourselves in this very same point a few years into the future.