The Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters is very much in a holding pattern, with Jared Leto’s Morbius now scheduled for January 2022 having only been moved from March to October of this year a couple of weeks ago. In fact, the studio has shifted several of their biggest blockbusters around the calendar once again, which isn’t good news for those hoping that Venom: Let There Be Carnage might arrive at the end of June as planned.
Sony’s second attempt at launching a shared superhero mythology at least has the benefit of Tom Holland this time around, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man widely expected to drop by the SPUMC here and there, while Michael Keaton’s cameo in the Morbius trailer has made it pretty clear that both franchises occupy the same narrative space.
There are at least another seven standalone feature films officially in development for the SPUMC that we know of, and insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that another one is now in the works focusing on longtime Spidey nemesis Scorpion. Of course, Michael Mando played Mac Gargan in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he was nowhere to be found during Far From Home, although Jon Watts has teased a potential return in the future.
No offense to Mando, but the actor doesn’t seem as though he’s a big enough name to lead a comic book blockbuster, especially when the SPUMC has roped in Tom Hardy and Jared Leto to headline their projects so far to at least have a famous face cast as characters that more casual audiences might not be too familiar with. Then again, if the plan is to build towards a potential Sinister Six spinoff with Holland’s Peter Parker, Sony will certainly need to make sure that the half dozen titular villains are well established by the time it happens.
