Sony Is Wasting Marvel’s Best Villains
Like many other fans, I think the greatest weakness of Marvel movies is their forgettable antagonists. While some of that weakness is due to creative choices from directors and writers, it’s also the result of Sony owning the rights to many of the best villains. Spider-Man is known for having some of the best antagonists in comics, but those characters are being wasted in underwhelming movies instead of appearing in the MCU.
Spidey Villains Are All Becoming Sony’s Heroes
With Disney’s acquisition of Fox and Sony’s deal to let Spider-Man appear in the MCU, Marvel’s characters have been gradually consolidated.
While it feels like The X-Men and Fantastic Four will fill in the last major gap for heroes, the MCU will still lack many of the most notable villains. This is particularly troubling because while the MCU has always had great heroes, it desperately needs more interesting antagonists.
With limited characters to work with, Sony’s Marvel movies rely on Spider-Man villains as protagonists. Venom was well-regarded and Venom: Let There Be Carnage was a critically divisive box-office success, but the rest of the company’s non-MCU movies have been flops.
Kraven the Hunter seems to be building on the same anti-hero model as Venom, indicating that the company is doubling down on this model.
Sony’s Marvel Movies Have A Terrible Track Record
If Sony had a series of great Marvel movies I would be more forgiving of the way these villains are being used, but that’s not the case. Madame Web and Morbius are considered among the worst superhero movies ever made and Venom: Let There Be Carnage is considered mediocre by most.
I’m hesitant to judge a movie before it comes out, but the trailer for Kraven the Hunter doesn’t give me much hope.
The Villains Would Work Better In The MCU
It’s frustrating to watch Sony squander some of my favorite Marvel villains while the MCU misses opportunities to use them. As a super-powered serial killer, Carnage is a great foil for any hero and has even fought The Avengers in the comics, but we’re unlikely to see him appear again after Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
In a more direct example, Ryan Coogler wanted Kraven the Hunter to appear in Black Panther to replicate a fight from Christopher Priest’s comic book run, but couldn’t use the character because Disney doesn’t own the rights.
Sony Strays Further From The Source Material
While Disney’s Marvel movies tend to be fairly faithful to the comics, Sony seems to be moving away from comic accuracy to turn villains into anti-heroes.
Kraven the Hunter will significantly change the character’s personality and origin to make him fit better as a protagonist. The trailer also implies Rhino will be substantially different, which makes their absence from the more comic-accurate MCU even more tragic.
Maybe The FF And X-Men Will Help
I’m excited to see if the introduction of X-Men and Fantastic Four characters can fix Marvel’s villain problem, but there will still be a huge hole in the universe where Sony’s characters should be.
Of course, the situation is even worse for the Sony movies which are completely isolated from the MCU meaning they have a limited number of actual superheroes to adapt.
I don’t want to see my favorite comic book bad guys being turned into protagonists, I want to see them going toe to toe with my favorite superheroes.
