A few years ago, before Spider-Man found his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was supposed to go up against a team of his fiercest nemeses, the Sinister Six, for Sony. Drew Goddard was on board to helm the project, but then Spidey went elsewhere and that was that. Since then, we assumed the movie was only ever going to exist in our dreams.
Sure, there were murmurings of a team-up movie featuring the Six without Spider-Man to stand in their way. But Goddard’s been a busy guy in recent years and other projects have taken up his time. However, with the success of Venom and Sony’s Spidey spinoff universe very much a reality as a result, the time is right to resurrect the long-gestating Sinister Six movie. The studio is all about giving the bad guys a chance to shine, and they’re still keen on bringing these rascals to the big screen.
Amy Pascal, the former Sony chief who’s been attached to the project since the beginning, told Vanity Fair that the movie is still very much alive. The only thing prolonging it from happening right away is Goddard’s schedule. “I’m just waiting for Drew to be ready to direct it,” she said. “I would do anything with Drew Goddard. I’m just waiting for him to tell me he wants to.”
In the same interview, Pascal also claimed that she and Goddard had discussions about the movie back in October, suggesting that he was still excited about bringing the villains to the big screen.
Of course, we’d rather hear those words from the horse’s mouth, but the good news is that Goddard is relatively optimistic of Sinister Six happening eventually. Discussing the film with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year, he compared it to his horror cult hit The Cabin in the Woods and remained hopeful that the project would emerge from the shadows someday.
“The punk rock mentality that led to ‘Cabin’ is very much at the core of ‘Sinister Six.’ That’s a fun one. Who knows, it could see the light of day.”
I like what Goddard is selling here. The Cabin in the Woods is a wild ride that flips horror movie tropes on their head. The thought of him bringing this spirit to the wacky ass supervillain universe Sony is trying to establish is very intriguing. We need more “punk rock” madness. Furthermore, Goddard has an impressive track record overall, and he could bring some acclaim and respectability to proceedings.
As enjoyable as Venom is in this writer’s humble opinion, the film garnered mixed reviews and got Sony’s experiment off to a messy start. Making movies that are unanimously liked certainly wouldn’t hurt the studio’s long-term plans at succeeding with their villain capers. Recruiting talent like Goddard would be a step in the right direction.
Venom and the upcoming villain movies suggest that Sony is out to create their own Dark Universe (albeit not an unsuccessful one). A filmmaker like Goddard, whose oeuvre contains comic book adaptations and genre efforts, would be a perfect fit for what they’re going for, as well. Right now, all parties need to sit down and make this thing official while the iron is still hot for horror-adjacent antiheroes getting their own outings.
The original Sinister Six lineup consisted of Doctor Octopus, Electro, Kraven the Hunter, the Sandman, the Vulture, and Mysterio, the last of whom will be portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal in next year’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. However, the group’s lineup has evolved since its original iteration, and Sony would likely alter it based on the characters they want to feature in their own cinematic opuses. And with Morbius and Kraven movies currently in the works, Sony can lay the foundations for their team-mates to come aboard later on.
DC has already tried to establish their own villain posse franchise with Suicide Squad, so naturally, comparisons to that movie will be unavoidable. But there’s always room for more bad guys to spice up the superhero movie landscape, and when it comes to these miscreants, you can’t do much better than Spidey’s old adversaries. Plus, Suicide Squad didn’t exactly capture people’s hearts and imaginations, so it’s not like Sinister Six has formidable competition to overcome.
Until then, we’ll just have to be patient. Goddard is currently trying to bring X-Force to life, so his plate might not be clear for a while. But it’s still reassuring to know that Sinister Six is a strong possibility in the minds of the important parties involved. Whether they actually do something about it remains to be seen.
The post The Resurrection of the Sinister Six Movie appeared first on Film School Rejects.
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