WARNING: The following contains minor spoilers for Morbius, in theaters now.
Morbius is the latest Sony Spider-Man movie, and the first to truly try to expand said universe and build into upcoming events. Those events will include the formation of the Sinister Six. This cadre of villainous scum are known to vex Spidey in the comics, and it's a union that has yet to really be seen in live-action. Though Morbius shows that the Sony Universe is moving in that direction, it's not the first time the studio has tried this.
Their first hackneyed attempt at building up to the Sinister Six was in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. This led to a number of ill-conceived and ultimately cancelled plans to feature them in their own movie, of all things. With Sony potentially building to what they planned to do almost a decade ago, here's a look back at the original plans for the Sinister Six.
The Sinister Six in The Amazing Spider-Man 2
A potential Sinister Six movie was first announced by Sony in 2013, about a year after the first Amazing Spider-Man movie was made. This was supposed to be a spinoff of that film, though the exact way in which it would unfold was largely unknown. After all, the only major villain that Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man had fought up to that point was The Lizard, who was not planned to be a member of the team. Thus, it seemed as if the movie would simply be a fast-forward of sorts where Spider-Man had already fought and beaten each member.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ended with a scene where, in an Oscorp laboratory, several hi-tech gadgets and suits were shown. These were clearly the costumes meant to be worn by Doctor Octopus and The Vulture, with The Rhino having stolen his armored suit by the final few minutes. This was obviously meant to set up the Sinister Six's union in later films, with Harry Osborn's Green Goblin being their leader. Of course, this plan ultimately didn't come to fruition, as Sony united with Marvel Studios to reboot the character again for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nevertheless, this wasn't the end of the ideas behind the then-still-tentative Sinister Six film.
Sony Has Wanted to Unite the Sinister Six For Years
Though the movie had likely been cancelled in all but word by 2015, writer/director Drew Goddard, known for his work on the MCU Netflix Daredevil series, still hoped to make Sinister Six. He stated that his plans were for the villains to in fact be the main characters, all the while keeping them explicitly evil. In fact, there were plans for Spider-Man to not even appear, or have a small role at most. Marc Webb, who directed both of the Amazing Spider-Man movies, also discussed the details of the film. Apparently, it would've been made before a third Amazing Spider-Man movie, and it would have made an incredibly dumb villain decision. Instead of having Harry Osborn as Green Goblin like he was in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the Sinister Six movie would've revived the deceased Norman Osborn via his decapitated head before making him the Green Goblin.
This thankfully never happened, and the project was shelved along with any other planned continuations of the second Spider-Man movie universe. Now, however, Sony is reviving the idea by hyping the Sinister Six in the same universe as the Morbius and Venom movies. In a post-credits scene in the new film, Michael Keaton's Vulture approaches Morbius to team up with him. Ironically, many still suspect that the universe of these films is in fact the same one as the world of The Amazing Spider-Man. Thus, even with Morbius' rather tepid critical reception, Sony could finally be able to bring the Sinister Six to life on the big screen.
To see the beginning of the Sinister Six, Morbius is in theaters now.