Columbia Pictures
You’re about to have a lot more Spider-Man.
Not to be outdone by Marvel’s multi-phase monolith of a film franchise, Sony has announced that they plan on expanding the Spider-Man universe over several movies, by creating films that center on different members of Spidey’s rogue gallery. In addition to a third The Amazing Spider-Man film, which is currently being written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner, the studio now plans to expand the The Amazing Spider-Man franchise with upcoming Venom and Sinister Six movies. Venom will be written by Kurtzman and written by Goddard, while Sinister Six will be penned by Goddard, who also has an eye to direct.
Venom is an alien symbiote that attaches itself to a human host and endows that person with super-human abilities. The parasite first attached itself to Spider-Man himself, before taking over other hosts, the most prolific of which being Eddie Brock. Through the years, Venom has become one of Spider-Man’s most fearsome and popular foes, and fans have been clamoring for the character to re-appear on screen after he was mishandled by Sam Ramni’s overly bloated Spider-Man 3. Conversely, The Sinister Six is a group of Spider-Man’s most prolific enemies that decide to team up after losing out to the web-slinger individually. There have been numerous incarnations of the Sinister Six throughout Spider-Man’s history, but the classic lineup includes Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, Sandman, and Mystereo. While Electro is the only member of the team to be introduced in the series so far, hints about the Vulture and Doctor Octopus can be seen in the latest trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
So What do we want in the Sinister Six and Venom movies?
The Sinister Six Should Be Goofy.
The ranks of the Sinister Six include a geriatric geezer with metallic wings, a man who conjures illusions with a fish bowl on his head, and a hunter with a thing for Leopard-print fringed collars. At the end of the day, these are some goofy villains, and that fact should be celebrated, not hidden away under layers of faux-darkness. What’s charming about Spider-man’s rogue gallery is how silly most of his villains are, and there should be no attempt to make the Sinister Six overly serious or gritty, because there’s nothing gritty about Leopard print anything.
They Should Also Have a Loser’s Mentality
The Sinister Six came to be because they were collectively tired of losing to a wise-cracking teenager in a spider costume. That sad fact should burn in them like napalm, and fuel their desires for revenge. They shouldn’t even like each other, but simply tolerate each other just enough to work together towards the end goal of finally killing Spider-Man.
They Should Also be Fun to Hang Around
If we’re going to spend an entire movie hanging around a couple of villains, then they need to be a pretty entertaining group to watch. This should feel like The Avengers with villains, and even though these characters will presumably be evil, they need to make being evil look fun, or at least fun to laugh at. There needs to be both a good team dynamic and diverse and interesting characters to make this film work.
On the Other Hand, the Venom Movie Should be Creepy
Venom is an alien symbiote that turns its user into a big gelatinous monster made out of slimy black sinews. While the Sinister Six has license to be a little silly, the venom movie should definitely take itself more seriously. Venom is a creepy character, and that should play into the tone of the film.
And Spider-Man should be scared witless by Venom
While Spider-Man always feels confident enough to hurl jokes at his other villains, Venom has always brought forth the web slinger’s more serious side, and the film version should be no different.
