While the fate of Sony’s Amazing Spider-Man franchise is very much up in the air right now, we do know that at one point, the studio was ready to move forward with both a Sinister Six and Venom spinoff. It’s unclear if they still plan to do so, what with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 being a bit of a bomb for them, but the projects are likely still being considered.
So far, no official casting has been confirmed, but the studio obviously has a wishlist of who they’d like to see bring these comic book characters to life. Now, thanks to some leaked Sony emails, we know who they have their eye on.
Drew Goddard, who is set to be behind the camera for Sinister Six, wanted Tom Hardy for Sandman and Emily Blunt for Scorpia. Meanwhile, studio head Amy Pascal liked Emilia Clarke and Elizabeth Olsen for Scorpia, but noted that Olsen was probably out of the running due to her Avengers commitments. Further emails also mentioned Denzel Washington and George Clooney for unspecified roles, and one message suggested Sean Penn or Woody Harrelson for Doctor Octopus (who is apparently the team’s leader).
It doesn’t stop there, either, as Colin Firth was mentioned for The Vulture and Danny McBride, Jonah Hill, Chris O’Dowd, Michael Pena, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke and Sharlto Copley were all brought up for Sandman if Hardy passed.
Finally, one last tidbit was thrown into the email about the planned Venom spinoff, with one studio exec mentioning that Channing Tatum had been pursuing the role. However, now that he’s joined the X-Men universe, it seems unlikely that he’d have time to work with Sony on their Spider-Man franchise as well.