Sony has been obviously all over the news lately with their reboot of the hugely popular Spider-Man movie series. However, with the seemingly guaranteed success of the reboot comes a battery of questions as to what happens next. Sony seems to be shaping up to match Marvel’s connected movie universe with its own expanded Spidey centric universe. Previously, there was news that Avi Arad was pushing for a solo Venom movie. You can read about my opinions on that here. Now during an interview with SuperHeroHype.com, Arad made some interesting statements about other characters in the Spider-Man universe that might make for some intriguing moments going forward.

SHH: You guys are working on a sequel to this and developing a “Venom” movie, so is there more you’re doing with the Marvel characters, Avi? Over the years, you’ve talked about doing movies with different characters, so have many of them reverted back to Marvel?
Arad: One of the things that Matt and I are working on is the expansion of the universe. The Spider-Man Universe, as you know, has very interesting characters. We didn’t even get yet to Robbie (Robertson) and J. Jonah Jameson. We didn’t get to John Jameson, and we didn’t get yet to Mary Jane, so we are kind of peeling the onion and looking for what will be the most compelling and interesting relationships within the Spider-Man universe to continue and sometimes spin them off – that’s an opportunity.

So this isn’t all that surprising. Clearly they are planning on introducing some more beloved characters in the future. I do find the eventual introduction of Mary Jane to be interesting considering in order to do her properly you need to kill off Gwen Stacy. That storyline alone, done properly, could make for a fantastic second movie. I hope Sony has it in them to pull it off. Now lets get to the juicier stuff from Arad:

SHH: Do you feel like you need to stay away from some of the villains that have appeared in the Sam Raimi movies? Or can you redefine them within the context of this new Spider-Man?
Arad: Well, not really. There are so many ways to paint these villains, all of them. As you know, one of the great sagas in the Spider-Man universe is of course the Sinister Six. I think “Avengers” did okay the last time I looked.
Tolmach: It’s going to be okay.
Arad: Yeah, it will survive.

SHH: So are you suggesting you’re going to do five Spider-Man movies introducing each villain and then the sixth movie will have the Sinister Six?
Tolmach: It seems like a good model.
Arad: It all depends on the stories that one wants to tell, because Spider-Man is really more a depth kind of a story, we have to be careful how many villains we can service, because a relationship with a villain has to be such that it’s a story on his own. We attempted to do multiple villains–you’ve been there–you just need screen time to do it.

So there you have it… The Sinister Six. I have stated previously on the podcast that this is the most logical choice for the expanded Spider-Man universe and I’m glad that they have finally listened (or maybe they came to the conclusion on their own…we will never know). With the gigantic success of The Avengers movie studios are more likely to branch out with larger than life comic book stories. Instead of having 6 heroes vs. 1 villain you can flip the entire format on its head. This could be amazing if it’s done right. I guess we won’t really know until the verdict is in for The Amazing Spider-Man from the fans.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Sinister Six they are a group of Spider-Man villains who decide to join up and create a team to take down the infamous web-slinger. The team has had a rotating roster since its creation in 1964, and sometimes the time has grown as high as 12 members. In my opinion, the team I would like to see are the following: Dr. Oct, Mysterio, Kraven, Vulture, Electro, and Sandman. This is the original team and they could be a formidable challenge to our titular hero. The only thing left to discuss is how the hell are you going to introduce these guys. Surely, Sony doesn’t have time for 6 more movies, 5 if the Lizard is apart of the line-up, to get them on screen before a team up. I think 2-3 villains going forward would be good. Characters like Electro and Vulture do not need a solo two hours to get the audience familiar with them. Dr. Oct, Mysterio, and Kraven should atleast be the major villains in which ever movie they are introduced in, as they are just simply better characters. So that’s two, possibly three films to introduce the team and the last movie they are joined together under the umbrella of Dr. Oct. This is totally doable and makes the most sense. Spider-Man needs to be the on ramp for scenario if it is to ever make it onto the silver screen.
This could be the ultimate move for Sony. What are your thoughts on this? Different roster for the Sinister Six, or just don’t bother doing them at all? Let us know in the comments!