Sony's initial Sam Raimi driven Spider-Man trilogy
held the mantle as the reigning champion of the superhero movie
genre for a long time.
However, a lot has changed about the art
of making comic book films in the intervening 20 years.
A fact that somehow seems lost on Sony executives
with their repeated attempts at launching a cinematic universe.
I'm not sure how I got here.
Has to do with Spider-Man, I think.
I think a bunch of guys like us should team up.
Before we get too deep into today's episode,
please be sure to like, comment, and subscribe
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Cast your minds back before every intellectual property
known to man had a cinematic universe connected to it.
Despite Spider-Man 3 being a box office smash,
Sony announced it was abandoning plans for a Spider-Man 4
starring Tobey Maguire.
This would obviously give way to the two
amazing Spider-Man movies starring Andrew Garfield.
Spider-Man.
During the lead up to the premiere of Amazing Spider-Man,
superhero mega-producer Avi Arad discussed the potential
of having a solo Venom franchise outside
of these new Spider-Man films.
Making this the first stutter step
toward the shared and connected filmic universe featuring
villains of the old webhead.
This plan was further expanded with the release
of Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was
intended to lay the groundwork for a network of films.
The initial two supposedly being Venom, and a Sinister Six film.
Needless to say, Amazing Spider-Man 2
failed at the box office leading everyone
at Sony to rethink this direction.
And a mere two years later, Marvel
stepped in to take Spider-Man back under control
for Captain America Civil War.
Cap-- Captain.
Big fan, Spider-Man.
Yeah, we'll talk about it later.
Just--
Hey, everyone.
Good job.
And here's where our story splits in two halves.
On one half, we have the MCU Spidey films,
and mega-producer Amy Pascal's efforts
to develop a potential animated Spider-Man project.
And on the other hand, we have the eventual shared universe
of Spider-Less villain films.
2016 saw Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach
back in the producing seats bringing Venom
to the big screen.
This time as a solo character with an eye on building
a universe around him.
We are Venom.
Venom might be a symbiote from an alien world,
but in the comics, most of the character's actual powers
come from the time he was bonded to Peter Parker.
Venom's origin, his motivation, and his powers
are all tied directly to a character Sony couldn't really
use.
So what do you do?
Well, logically, you'd probably start
with the idea of making a tragic downfall of a journalist
consumed with jealousy.
That's not what Sony opted for.
Instead, it's a movie about Tom Hardy doing a funny voice
and fighting with himself.
You are a loser, Eddie.
And you know what?
Surprisingly, this thing worked.
Well, at least on the financial front.
Believe it or not, the movie that's
been in on again, off again development since the '90s
actually demolished at the box office.
It pulled in approximately $856 million worldwide.
Avi Arad's dreams were finally coming true, a shared universe
of Spider films.
But now, with the bizarre restriction
of still not having Spider-Man.
What if everyone forgot who I was?
What?
This time, make everyone forget who Peter Parker is.
We'd have no memory of you.
It would be as though you never existed.
Out of this situation, a flurry of announcements
happened after having been put on the back burner.
Chief among them were a supposed Night Watch
film that Spike Lee was going to direct,
a Black Cat and Silver Sable team up film,
and a reworked version of the Sinister Six.
I am Rhino.
Obviously, none of these films ever came to be.
What we got instead was more of the same,
but with an added sprinkling of Woody Harrelson.
Shut your mouth.
Venom Let There Be Carnage is one
of the most phoned-in and by-the-numbers superhero
equals ever produced.
The snoozefest would have been a lot more
fun if Harrelson actually looked like a psychotic clown
the whole runtime.
But you know what?
It didn't matter.
It made a ton of money, over $500 million to be precise.
That being said, at least the film is only 96 minutes long.
And if you thought this movie was
a low point for global culture, you
missed the next entry into the Spider-Man villain universe.
I am Venom.
Ha!
April 1, 2022, saw the release of the much delayed
and obviously heavily re-edited Morbius.
This film just failed to sink its teeth
into anything substantial at the box office,
pulling in only $167 million worldwide.
But here's the kicker, Morbius is the only theatrically
released feature film to fail twice.
That's right.
After the film bombed the first time,
the internet did what the internet does and mercilessly
made fun of the film, giving Michael Morbius
the fake catchphrase--
It's morbin time.
Attempting to capitalize off the meme-ification
of the poor quality of the film, they
rereleased it into theaters, only for literally no one
to show up again.
It failed epically.
Both Venom films feel like coldly calculated movies
from directors looking to have a boost to their careers.
While Morbius just feels like a miscast story
told by someone who had absolutely no passion for what
they're attempting to say.
And now, here we are staring down
the barrel of three more movies set
in this universe, Kraven the Hunter, Venom 3, and a Madame
web film.
All of these are supporting characters
and don't have a reason to exist outside
of being a foil for some aspect of Spider-Man's personality.
So when you remove Spider-Man, what
are you trying to tell a story about?
Now that Spider-Man's gone, this city will never be the same.
If Morbius and Venom were released
in the early 200os alongside Daredevil, Ang Lee's Hulk
and Ghost Rider, they would feel absolutely at home.
Studios were still somewhat unsure of how faithfully
they should be adapting the tried and true trappings
of the superhero genre.
No bright colors, no spandex, and no big ideas
for the universe that the heroes lived in.
That's exactly how all these Sony Spider villains
films feel.
They're stuck being self-conscious adaptations
of characters that don't need to have $200 million
poured into them.
And Kraven might be the best example of this phenomenon.
He is weak, like his mother.
Leave him.
Venom, huge fan base.
He's even been an anti-hero during his lethal protector
era.
Morbius, sure.
You could probably find some way of making a cool Blade-esque
or Dracula in modern times movie out of that character.
But Kraven, he's got one attribute.
He's a hunter.
His motivation is to take down the most dangerous prey.
The movie they're trying to convince us to go
see, he's a super powered vigilante.
It's Dexter meets the Manimal.
He has the ability to absorb animal powers,
and then he hunts criminals.
No.
That's not a Kraven movie.
That's a movie produced by people who don't care or like
the character.
If you don't know the source material,
maybe don't make it into a movie.
You're a goddamn lunatic.
Oh, you just figured that out now?
And it's not going to be slowing down anytime soon.
There are reports that as many as eight new Spider villain
movies are currently in active development.
The two we currently know the most about
are a Donald Glover project centering on Hypno-Hustler,
and a movie about El Muerto, which at one time,
was set to star Bad Bunny.
Sony isn't attempting to accomplish anything other
than to pick up the scraps that the MCU and the DCU
leave behind.
Their cynicism is evident over every frame of these films.
And apparently, it's financially successful for them.
It's just a tragedy that these characters, and audience,
are the ones truly suffering.
And well, that's all we have for this episode of Nerdstalgic.
What do you think?
Will Kraven be any good?
Let us know your thoughts down below.
And as always, please be sure to like
and subscribe to Nerdstalgic for more videos just like this one.
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