Kraven the Hunterfailed to bring life to the box office when it was released in 2024, and comparing the film’s failure to the X-Men, and their stories both in and out of theMarvel Cinematic Universe, clearly shows why it had to end its franchise. While there is still occasional talk ofVenom meeting Spider-Man,it seems that further films in Sony’s universe of Spider-Man characters may no longer be made.While nothing in comic book movies is ever a true end, so many details suggest that several, if not all, of these character iterations are done.
With so manyMarvel shared universes created, it can get confusing to follow and understand which ones integrate with each other. After films likeSpider-Man: No Way Homeconnected with multiple different universes, it became suggested that all of these universes are contained together. The recent casting of X-Men inAvengers: Doomsdayhas only bolstered this theory, making things even more confusing. Still, I’d argue that the appearance of characters from Sony’s universe in future projects is now very unlikely.
While the two franchises were quite distinct, coming from different eras and finding different kinds of success, there are actually some surprising similarities between theFox X-Men Universe timelineand Sony’s universe of Spider-Man characters.Fox realized major fluctuations in their success, with some of their films connecting, and others failing to.Time seemed to impact this but less than expected; the franchise received both its highest and lowest-grossing films in its last two entries, withDeadpool & WolverineandThe New Mutantsrespectively.
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It is clear, based on the box office results, that interest in the franchise waxed and waned with time. This was also true concerning the Sony films. WhiletheVenomfilms have all been able to find decent success, with even the most recent 2024 sequel grossing $474 million,the other films in the franchise did not reach those same heights. While theSpider-Versefilms were also a great success, their connection to the larger franchise felt different due to their being animated films in their own universe.
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The New Mutants' Box Office Serves As A Cautionary Tale To Sony’s Spider-Man Universe
The 2020 Film Is The Lowest Gross X-Men Film
While the X-Men franchise was enormous, and while it had by that point released several films that had grossed well over $500 million,things took a turn with the disappointing results ofThe New Mutants.While much of this had to do with a botched release, and studio decisions that wound upfumbling this X-Men spinoff’s potential, it is clear thatThe New Mutantswas a big failure for Fox. I think it’s clear that crossing only $47 million on a $67 million budget would have been devastating for the studio.
However, the other details this suggests are much greater than this. While cinematic universes became an enormous rage in Hollywood after the incredible success ofThe Avengers,the intervening years have made it clear that not every property can justify their own cinematic universe.Fox attempted to expand the size of their world with miscellaneous titles and characters likeThe New Mutants, but there was little interest in it. I believe this now comes across as a warning and, with the failure ofKraven the Hunter, suggests that Sony may not have enough to build their own viable universe from.
Sony Has No Bankable Characters Left In Their Franchise
AfterThe New Mutantsfailed at the box office,the universe of the X-Men pivoted into telling one last goodbye story with some of their most popular characters, resulting in the franchise’s highest-grossing film,Deadpool & Wolverine.While something like this could be a hit for Sony, it does not appear that they have any characters with which to do anything of the sort. Tom Hardy’s Venom was their most bankable character, but he was killed in theending ofVenom: The Last Dance, leaving the studio with only a few options to move ahead.
In looking at the larger franchise,Sony already did something similar with their more bankable and successful characters by bringing back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield inSpider-Man: No Way Home.It seems that these characters may be the only option for their franchise moving forward. Perhaps in several years, after enough time has passed since Venom’s death,Tom Hardy could be brought back for another project. However, this feels far too soon right now.
The future of Sony now seems to be devoted to making the best films possible fromSpider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verseand the next MCU installment,Spider-Man: Brand New Day.Unfortunately, this will be at the cost of ending the dedicated Sony universe, and the end of characters like the villains fromKraven the Hunter. It is always difficult to move on, but this seems to have been the right decision, and hopefully that will become clear as more of Sony’s Spider-Man films are released in the upcoming years.
