Ever since the big deal was announced between Sony and Marvel for Spider-Man to appear in the MCU (starting with Captain America: Civil War) and then his own new franchise, we’ve imagined other characters such as the Sinister Six cooling their heels in a waiting room wondering when their chance will come. According to Drew Goddard, who at one point was attached to write and direct a film about the villains when Sony’s Spider-plans called for a big universe expansion, it could still come to pass.
While no one at Marvel or Sony is currently considering it, Goddard built in an idea that could make a villain-focused movie work. “My vision of that movie was a summer annual,” he tells io9. “So you didn’t have to worry about continuity. It was just, ‘We take Peter Parker, put him on an adventure, we put him back in his life.’ I intentionally wanted a movie that didn’t have to worry about mythology and continuity. It was important to me to make a movie that could stand on its own. So the good news is it slots in very well to any plan anybody ever wants. We just need to let a couple years go by, I think."
Still, the web-slinger (now to be played by Tom Holland) will have to establish himself all over again, in a new film currently scripted by Vacation duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein and set to be directed by Jon Watts. Fortunately, he won’t have to go through the origin story again, but don’t expect much expansion just yet, which seems to suit Goddard. “The tricky part about all this is I love this plan,” he adds. “I love that you get to see Spider-Man in Marvel movies. I think that’s a great thing. I’m on board with that decision because as a fan that’s what I want. So who knows what the future holds? This is Hollywood, man, you’ve gotta play the long game.”
Unlike the villains, Goddard has been keeping busy. He adapted Andy Weir’s** The Martian** for Ridley Scott (the film arrives here next week) and also continues to tinker with his Robopocalypse script, ready for whenever Steven Spielberg is ready to direct it.