Sony's Spider-Man Universe

Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Entertainment. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, the films are based on various Marvel Comics characters and properties commonly associated with the character Spider-Man, who is not prominently featured in the franchise.

Sony Pictures, which owns the film rights to Spider-Man, began work on an expanded universe using supporting characters from the Spider-Man films by December 2013. The studio planned to use The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) to launch several spin-off films focused on Spider-Man villains from the comics, including a Venom film. After the relative critical and financial disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, these plans were abandoned and in February 2015, Sony announced a deal to collaborate with Marvel Studios on future Spider-Man films and integrate the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This relationship produced Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), while Sony separately re-developed Venom (2018) as a stand-alone film with its own fictional universe. Sony and Marvel Studios renegotiated their deal in 2019 to share the Spider-Man character between the MCU and their standalone Marvel-based films.

Venom was followed by Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) and Morbius (2022), both of which have mid-credits scenes that feature elements from the multiverse concept to link the SSU with the MCU, while Sony's animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) is also connected to the SSU. These were followed by Madame Web, Venom: The Last Dance, and Kraven the Hunter in 2024, with all three featuring additional characters related to Spider-Man in the comics. Most films from the SSU have been received poorly; Venom, Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter received negative reviews from critics, while the Venom sequels received mixed reviews. The franchise has grossed over $2 billion worldwide, with the Venom films being commercially successful while the rest were commercial failures. By the end of 2024, Sony was no longer developing further projects for the franchise, but Sony Pictures Television is in production on the live-action television series Spider-Noir, set in the same shared universe.^[1]