Originally posted at Comicbook.com
The Sinister Six film appears to be moving forward.
While relatively little is known about the Spider-Man spin-off at this point, what is known that it is slated to hit theaters in November 2016 and the story revolving around the six super villains is one of redemption.
They aren’t the only ones in need of redemption.
Since the infamous cyberhack late last year, Sony Pictures has been doing major damage control. Among the skeletons unearthed in the leaked emails were the racist personal attacks against black celebrities such as Denzel Washington, Will Smith, his children and President Obama.
The future of the Spider-Man franchise has been in question following the poor performance of Amazing Spider-Man 2 and actor Andrew Garfield being removed from the eponymous role.
These situations present Sony with a great opportunity.
While Sinister Six is reportedly aimed to provide a soft reboot to the film series, the reality is that we don’t need another Peter Parker story.
We’ve had five films and one reboot around Parker in a relatively short amount of time.
Sam Raimi’s trilogy with Tobey Maguire as Spidey was excellent and arguably one of the best comic book adaptations to date. Amazing Spider-Man while decent, was in large part a rehash of Raimi’s work. While that would work for one film, it wouldn’t sustain a franchise, as was witnessed in Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Introducing Miles Morales would allow for the reboot in reintroducing the superhero Spider-Man but without retreading the same ground yet again with Parker’s origins.
More than that, Sony would receive some positive buzz and interest for providing some much needed diversity in the comic book film genre.
It’s no secret that some of the most highly anticipated films are Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, and Black Panther. The reason for that is the same reason why Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Falcon were prominent factors in the success of last year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Fans want their superheroes to be diverse. Why not? There’s a place for everyone. We wouldn’t be experiencing this comic book renaissance had it not been for a 1998 film called Blade.
Passing the (franchise) torch to Miles Morales would also be a show of good faith and the first step in Sony mending relationships, and repairing trust that was broken by their racist attacks last year.
The film studio has a long road ahead of them. They also have some very difficult decisions to make, there’s no question. Also ahead of them, are some huge opportunities, if they’re willing to take them.
Your move, Sony.
Does Sony actually own the rights to Miles? I was under the impression that Marvel could use him in the MCU if they wanted, but just haven’t chosen to.
I’d love to see Miles on screen, certainly more than I want another same_again Spidey reboot. But comic book movie adaptations are an inherently conservative venture, built around the assumption of the character being known. Sure, Marvel have become more daring, but would Sony give up a chance to use the widely known Peter Parker to put Miles on screen? Sadly, I doubt it.
Can the general audience handle a sudden switch to Miles Morales? Wouldn’t studio have to kill off Peter first to explain how he got the name? The upcoming Black Panther film and WB’s Cyborg film have characters who started those hero identities. Captain Marvel is arguably the only legacy hero to worry about but Mar-cell has been dead since the 1970s.
How can Sony handle doing another origin film and have Miles inherit Peter’s villains? It’s sounds more like a hand-me-down.
Hi! Very interesting post. I can’t wait to see what actually happens.
Sony have been terribly short-sighted with their rights to the Spider-Man character. By divorcing him from The Avengers continuity, he’s been cut adrift.
I enjoy Ultimate Spider-Man, but in general I’m not fond of legacy heroes, or characters that develop their identities and/or powers from others without generation gaps. It’s hard for those character’s not to feel second-rate. Star Wars and Rocky/Creed have the cross-racial torch passing covered for now.