Following its final flop withKraven the Hunterin December 2024,Sony’s Spider-Man Universeis no more - but I’m still fascinated by the subsequent cancelation of a mystery movie in 2025. It took six movies forSony to finally call timeon its ill-fated Marvel movie franchise, as no subsequent installment could hold a candle to the initial roaring success of 2018’sVenom. Whilethe three Venom movieswould become a billion-dollar trilogy, the combined gross of Sony’s other three Marvel movies failed to measure up to Venom’s lowest-grossing film,Venom: The Last Dance, alone.
GivenVenom was ostensibly written out of the franchiseinVenom: The Last Dance, Sony’s ultimate decision didn’t come as much of a surprise. With Venom out of the picture, the only recourse for Sony was to accept that other Spider-Man-adjacent characters were simply nonstarters, with minor characters like Morbius and Madame Web failing to inspire even half as much enthusiasm as the wildly popular Lethal Protector. While the writing may have been on the wall for now-canceled future projects, however, I can’t help but wonder if the mystery seventh installment might have been a different story.
2025’s Canceled Sony Marvel Movie Explained
Sony Revealed An Untitled Project For 2025
Sony updated its upcoming release slatein January, shifting the dates of a few anticipated releases like Darren Aronofsky’sCaught Stealing.The as-yet-untitled Marvel movie penciled for July 02, 2025, meanwhile, was outright removed from the slate. The untitled project was initially added to Sony’s release slate in June 2023 (viaThe Wrap) alongside an untitled movie for November 2024, which turned out to beVenom: The Last Dance. What the untitled movie for this July was, however, remains a complete mystery.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what Sony might have plannedfor this slot. The fact that it was specifically announced as a live-action project also precludes the possibility that it might have been a potential slot for thehighly anticipatedSpider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the release date of which remains up in the air. At the same time, the fact that we remained in the dark about the intended title so close to its release by a matter of months is notable. After all, there’s no way it could align with the development schedules of projects we were aware of.
There Have Been Plenty Of Sony Spider-Man Projects In Various Stages Of Development
Before drawing a line beneath the franchise, Sony had announced several projects that may now never see the light of day. Frustratingly, I think many of these projects might have been far better received than wildcard characters like Madame Web and Kraven, thoughit looks like Sony’s decision to remove the untitled project from July spells doom for most, if not all, of these projects. Many of them had also been in development for quite some time, but I doubt they were the ones intended for the July 2025 slot.
Indefinitely shelved in January 2024
No recent updates
Dropped by Amazon in 2024 (viaDeadline)
In development
Silver Sable and Black Cat Project
Movie
Put simply,we haven’t heard a thing about these projects for quite a while. Making movies and shows takes more than seven months, and without so much as a confirmation of their development progress, I can only assume that these were not the projects slated for the July slot. Projects like the one featuring Black Cat and Silver Sable have been languishing in development hell for several years, while theNicholas Cage-frontedSpider-Noironly resumed production this January with the potential to be released next year, though no date has yet been confirmed.
Another Sony Spider-Man Universe Movie Would’ve Seemingly Been Set Up In Kraven Or Venom 3
Sony Could Have Set Up Its Upcoming Movie In Its Two Most Recent Releases
The post-credits scene tease is now a mainstay of superhero movies, and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe was no different in this regard. That was, at least, untilKraven the Hunter, which was conspicuously devoid of a post-credits set-up for a future installment just weeks before the news of Sony’s fateful decision to pause the franchise was revealed. I can’t help but wonder, therefore,if the post-credits scene that was initially supposed to be slotted in would have set up this mystery installment months before its release.
Kraven the Hunter Post-Credits Scene Decision Says Everything You Need To Know About Sony’s Spider-Man Universe Future
Sony’s decision about whether to include credits scenes in Kraven the Hunter is an important indicator for what’s to come from their Marvel franchise.
Venom: The Last Dancedelivered one of Sony’s most exciting post-credits scenes with its depiction of Knull and his threat to destroy Earth and humanity. Sadly, outside ofincorporating the eldritch god into the MCU,it looks like Knull’s debut will never pay off. With that being said, there were a few characters teased to reappear down the line in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, including Juno Temple’s Agony inVenom: The Last Danceand Fred Hechinger’s Chameleon inKraven the Hunter.
Knull is mostly a Venom villain but his universal threat has brought him up against other characters like Thor and Spider-Man.
Knull was ostensibly set to provide the Thanos-level threat for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.The mystery live-action installment would likely have included at least some mention of KnullfollowingVenom: The Last Dance’s set-up, though whether it was intended as the Sinister Six team-up movie or a standalone featuring yet another peripheral Spider-Man character will seemingly remain a mystery. It’s a frustrating development and one that I’m going to struggle to forget.
I’ll Always Be Curious About What Sony’s Mystery Canceled Project Actually Was
We’ll Probably Never Know What Sony Intended
While things were not looking good for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe for quite some time,I’ll always wonder whether this untitled project might have changed the franchise’s fortunes. One of the main concerns leveled at Sony’s Spider-Man Universe was the conspicuous lack of Spider-Man, and this could have been the one movie to finally feature the eponymous wall-crawler. On the other hand,Madame Webhad already introduced a slew of female characters with similar powers including two iterations of Spider-Woman and Araña.
At the same time, I can’t wait until we see a movie that spotlights Spider-Woman, an as-yet unexplored character that might have been the Spider-hero Sony needed.
With that in mind,I wonder if this slot was intended to be a sequel to one of Sony’s failed projects likeMadame Web.Every movie in Sony’s Spider-Man Universeended up foreshadowing a future installment and two of the most exciting were inMorbiusandMadame Web.Morbius' post-credits tease of the Sinister Sixmay have been hamfisted, but it would be disingenuous of me to suggest that I wasn’t enthusiastic about the outcome. At the same time, I can’t wait until we see a movie that spotlights Spider-Woman, an as-yet unexplored character that might have been the Spider-hero Sony needed.
I think this fits the general timeline of events. While I’m sure the movie would have been delayed, it looks like Sony was waiting to see howKraven the Hunterwould perform before announcing any upcoming Sinister Six project - but as the biggest box office bomb ofSony’s Spider-Man Universe, this was the final nail in the coffin.Madame Web, meanwhile, was only released last year, and Sony might have been holding out hope thatKraven the Huntercould keep the franchise’s head above water before announcing a Spider-Woman spinoff.
