There are many problems with Sony’s Spider-Man Universe – an alarming number when you consider the franchise is only three films deep – but the biggest by far has got to be its title.
By placing the iconic web-slinger’s name front-and-center, it was immediately established that the endgame is for the various characters introduced within to face off against Peter Parker’s alter-ego, even though the Marvel Cinematic Universe already has those bases covered to a vastly superior degree.
In fact, Sony has made a point of repeatedly teasing Spidey’s eventual involvement in its own set of interconnected superhero stories, and things haven’t exactly been rapturously received. The post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage used archive footage to establish that Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock had been shifted over to MCU continuity, only for that to be instantly abandoned in the stinger of No Way Home.
The reshoots awarded Morbius the distinction of quite possible the single worst after-credits tease in the genre’s entire history that’s sure to go nowhere, and now Sony‘s official synopsis of Kraven the Hunter has name-dropped the web-head all over again.
“Kraven the Hunter is the visceral story about how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Set before his notorious vendetta with Spider-Man, Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the titular character in the R-rated film.”
Presumably, it’s all building towards that Sinister Six movie we keep hearing about, but even that isn’t guaranteed when Sony seems to have no clue what it’s even building towards, other than repeatedly dropping hints that the friendly neighborhood arachnid the entire saga is named after may or may not be out there somewhere.