The Sony Spider-Man universe was doomed from the start, and there are only two ways to save it without Tom Holland’s popular web-slinger

Another year, the death of a new cinematic universe. Just 12 months later Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom put the final nail in the coffin of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), Kraven the Hunterone of the last new films of 2024, will do the same with the Sony Spider-Man Universe (SSU).

Indeed, a new report from The coverwith input from Sony Pictures insiders, all but confirms that the SSU, previously – and confusingly – called the Sony Pictures Universal of Marvel Characters (SPUMC), is being axed less than a decade after its inception.

Frankly, no one should be surprised by this development. Sony may have gotten lucky with the release of Poisonthe 2018 Spidey spin-off starring Tom Hardy that, despite mediocre reviews from critics, stunned industry experts with a gross of $856 million at the box office. But even then it was clear that the SSU would never be able to sustain that success because of the giant elephant – or should that be a spider? – in the room.

Yes, the absolutely bizarre decision to a single live-action version of Spider-Man – Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield or current incumbent Tom Holland – in any of SSU’s six films was a big mistake. You can’t try to replicate the success and popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) by building a franchise without having one person to hold it all together. Warner Bros. wouldn’t create a Batman cinematic universe where the Dark Knight never appears, is only referenced once or twice per film, and has projects based on his iconic rogues gallery whose origin stories have to undergo significant changes to work around the issues. The absence of Caped Crusader. It would be an impossible task that I and many other Batman fans would find difficult to comprehend.