With the superhero genre as popular as ever on the big screen, companies are still eager to create their cinematic worlds. Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is the most recent addition. The franchise, co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment, concentrates on characters associated with the renowned webslinger, particularly villains and supporting heroes from Peter Parke’s film.
The SSU, previously known by the unofficial name “VenomVerse,” was in production at the time of Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man films as Sony intended to create their own shared universe, only to be derailed by the financial disappointment of the 2014 sequel.
Venom (2018), Sony’s debut feature, proved to be a critical letdown, but that wasn’t enough to destroy the company’s universal aspirations since it grossed an astonishing $856.1 million. Since then, a Venom sequel, the much-maligned Morbius, and 2024’s Madame Web have joined the ranks, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven film and a third from Tom Hardy’s Venom. Given such goals, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a critically acclaimed franchise. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong, as Sony’s losing trend continued. Based on the news, the Venomverse could be dead or on life-support.
Here’s our ranking of every Sony “Spider-Man” movie so far.
5. Madame Web (2024)
Directed By S. J. Clarkson
The clairvoyant superhero origin story in Madame Web, starring Dakota Johnson, is a failure in every way, with potential buried early in the film. The dialogue lacks wit and spark, with one-liners and tired backstories. The storytelling is between pathetic and perfunctory, with the characters being too flat to flesh out with rounded personalities. The film is like a rickety wooden coaster found at a family-owned amusement park, lacking effort in acting, storytelling, and set pieces.
The writers of Sony’s 2022 flop Morbius had a hand in this storyline, and the film plays like another desperate attempt to keep the franchise flag flying. The next Sony project is the heavily delayed Kraven the Hunter. This is one of the worst comic book movies I’ve ever seen, and the film collapses so pathetically that studio executives might have dialed 911 to rescue it.
Buy or Rent on Amazon
4. Morbius (2022)
Directed By Daniel Espinosa
Morbius is a mess because of her generic plot, lack of originality, and lack of humor. The filmmakers struggled to create a compelling character, and the horror theme was not interesting. It focuses on vampire mythology without providing anything new or interesting.
Morbius is a forgettable entry in Sony’s attempt to fill its Spider-Man-adjacent cinematic universe, and it is too bound to comic book movie convention to become the overt gay vampire superhero melodrama it should have been. The reviewers believe that Jared Leto’s performance in Morbius is not enough to make the film worth a sequel and deserves a stake through its heart rather than a sequel.
Buy or Rent on Amazon
3. Kraven the Hunter (2024)
Directed By J. C. Chandor
Kraven the Hunter is a terrible superhero movie that alternates between entertainingly awful and just bad. The movie offers faint, dumb, and guilty pleasures, supplied mainly by an ensemble putting wildly varying amounts of effort into their underwritten paycheck roles. The computer-generated safari animals, elaborate wire-work, and four-letter swears make the movie feel lifeless and desperate to please. J.C. Chandor’s action sci-fi picture is limited by incomprehensible plotting and dodgy one-liners delivered by a cast practicing their worst Russian accents. While there are flashes of brilliance, they are quickly overshadowed by cringe-worthy dialogue and a disjointed plot.
The superpowered comic book origin story could easily be mistaken for the dictionary definition of “meh.” The action scenes relieve us from the clunky dialogue and bad accents. Kraven the Hunter is an undercooked pile of steaming mediocrity, with its best moments when it embraces its most bizarre elements.
Buy or Rent on Amazon
2. Venom (2018)
Directed By Ruben Fleischer
The film Venom, starring Tom Hardy, has excessive exposition and lack of bite. The movie focuses on Eddie and Venom’s relationship, with humor and a sly riff on Batman movies from DC Comics. However, the film lacks boldness and bracing newness, and the director, Sony, has jettisoned a crucial ingredient: bite.
The film is a soulless movie in which slimy creatures try to find host bodies. The movie manages to be both rushed and labored, rattling through an agonizing amount of setups before deciding on its split-personality buddy-comedy tone. The critics argue that Venom is a mixed blessing worth embracing, but it is a tone-deaf, uneven, and dumb clunker that never settles on an identity. The characterizations are threadbare, half-baked, and borderline offensive, and there’s not much to get anyone excited to see it.
1. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
Directed By Andy Serkis
Venom 2 is a mix of edginess and sentiment, with gags that would make a great-grandfather laugh. The movie is exhausting, with a 90-minute runtime, but enjoyable. The humor in Let There Be Carnage works, particularly the dynamic between Venom and Brock. But there’s a lack of coherence and polish in the sequel.
While the movie is imperfect, it is still enjoyable and a romantic comedy.
What do you think about the Sony Spider-Man Universe of films? Which is your favorite, and which do you hate the most?
