15 years ago, Sony began the cycle of hype and subsequent disappointment that has since plagued the Spider-Man franchise with a single announcement.

15 years ago, on March 12, 2009, Sony Pictures made a single announcement that set the Spider-Man franchise on a seemingly never-ending cycle of hype and subsequent disappointment. While the Spider-Man live-action franchise boomed into popularity with 2002’s Spider-Man, 2009 began the harsh cycle of disappointment that many have come to expect from Sony Pictures. Since then, various Spider-Man movies of different rankings have been released, with some being lauded as the best outings for the Web-Slinger while others are more maligned.

Regardless of the varying quality of Spider-Man movies, fans of the iconic Marvel hero have undoubtedly been spoiled. With several Spider-Man movie timelines currently on the go from differing movie studios, audiences can pick and choose which variant of the character to follow and in what order they want to watch Spider-Man movies. That said, Sony Pictures has made it difficult to guess how long each version of Spider-Man will last due to the aforementioned cycle which began with one empty promise 15 years ago.

Sony Announced Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 Movie 15 Years Ago

On March 12, 2009, Sony Pictures posted an announcement on Twitter for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4. While social media in 2009 was not as big a marketing tactic as it is in modern Hollywood, the announcement was made nonetheless. Simply reading “Sony Pictures to release Spider-Man 4 on May 6, 2011,” the announcement sent the Spider-Man fanbase into a craze of hype and excitement to see the continuation of Tobey Maguire’s journey as Peter Parker.

However, as is now a case of unfortunate common knowledge, this announcement from Sony Pictures did not come to fruition. Due to Sony’s intervention in the film’s story, Sam Raimi felt he could not provide a satisfying story for Spider-Man 4. After several rewrites, Raimi departed the project which prompted Sony Pictures to completely reboot the Spider-Man franchise. And so began the cycle of hype-filled announcements and subsequent disappointment that persists to this day, originating with the announcement of Spider-Man 4 15 years ago.

Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 Isn’t The Only Canceled Spider-Man Movie

Since the cancelation of Spider-Man 4, several other movies in the franchise have been scrapped. These films contribute to both sides of the aforementioned cycle: the initial excitement for more Spider-Man and the resulting disappointment of knowing different projects will not see the light of day. While some projects, such as a Spider-Man movie from Titanic and Avatar director James Cameron, were canceled prior to 2009, the announcement of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 is what set Sony Pictures on its current path of announcements and abolishments.

The Spider-Man Franchise Has Had Many Ups And Downs Over The Last 15 Years

As alluded to, the Spider-Man franchise has faced an equal amount of hype and disappointment since the announcement of Spider-Man 4 in 2009. 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man was a mix of both, with the film being majoritively well-received by fans and critics alike. While some were disappointed in the film’s retreading of familiar plot points from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, the overall success of the film spawned a sequel. Unfortunately, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was too focused on setting up Sony’s planned franchise to be a coherent film in and of itself.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 marked another low point for the Spider-Man franchise after the disappointment caused by Spider-Man 4 ‘s cancelation.

This caused the film to be poorly reviewed, which in turn contributed to a subpar box office performance in comparison to other Spider-Man movies. Despite the film earning a respectable $708,982,323 worldwide, it is still the lowest-grossing live-action Spider-Man movie to date. When taking into account the $250 million budget of the film and its lowly 51% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 marked another low point for the Spider-Man franchise after the disappointment caused by Spider-Man 4‘s cancelation.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the worst-reviewed live-action Spider-Man movie on Rotten Tomatoes, discounting Sony’s SSU movies, which do not feature the Web-Slinger himself.

However, the Spider-Man franchise recovered from the lull of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with the announcement that Sony’s planned reboot would be in partnership with Marvel Studios. In 2014, the MCU was at the peak of its powers, meaning Spider-Man becoming part of the franchise was an incredibly exciting prospect. Spider-Man’s subsequent appearances in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home continued the high point of his MCU inclusion, making many forget about Sony’s blunders with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and its many canceled sequels, spin-offs, and crossovers.

This stretch of success saw Spider-Man: Far From Home become the first in the franchise to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office, before culminating in an unprecedented cinematic event: Spider-Man: No Way Home. Despite the lows of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man franchises, the two returned to play Peter Parker in the multiverse-centric No Way Home. All three live-action Spider-Man actors appeared on screen together in an incredibly satisfying movie, which earned north of $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office and even made up for the cancelations of Spider-Man 4 and The Amazing Spider-Man 3.

While Marvel Studios and No Way Home undoubtedly marked a somewhat unreachable high point for the franchise, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe unfortunately continued the flip-side of the cycle: disappointment. Venom was released in 2018 to commercial success but was critically panned. Venom 2 was a mild improvement regarding quality, but even it could not be marked as “Fresh” by Rotten Tomatoes’ various certified critics. Morbius and Madame Web then released to respective 15% and 12% critical scores on the website, both bombing with worldwide totals of $167 million and $96 million respectively.

What’s Next For Sony’s Spider-Man Franchises?

Despite the fluctuating success of the various Spider-Man franchises concocted since 2009’s Spider-Man 4 announcement, the future of the Web-Slinger in film has never looked brighter. Whether it be the continuation of the MCU’s successful iteration or the future movies planned in the divisive Sony Spider-Man Universe, a lot is coming concerning Spider-Man and his supporting Marvel Comics characters. This also extends to animated movies, which are some of the franchise’s more beloved entries in recent years.

MCU Spider-Man 4 Is Reportedly In Development

Where live-action Spider-Man is concerned, undoubtedly the most exciting future for the character rests with Marvel Studios. Since 2015, Sony and Marvel Studios have partnered on the production of the MCU’s Spider-Man trilogy, with the latter studio responsible for crafting the films while the former deals with marketing, distribution, and financing the productions. Despite little information being provided about the MCU’s Spider-Man 4, it has at least been confirmed by Amy Pascal in an interview with Fandango that the deal between Marvel and Sony will continue, meaning more MCU Spider-Man films are on the way.

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe Continues Expanding In 2024

While Morbius and Madame Web were undoubtedly failures in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, the franchise is set to expand and hopefully get back on track in the latter stages of 2024. In August 2024, a new character will be introduced to the franchise through Kraven the Hunter. Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the film will focus on the titular Spider-Man villain within the continuity of the SSU as Sony Pictures looks to regain the commercial success of the Venom franchise.

Repeating the box office success of Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be made easier for Sony Pictures in November 2024 with the release of Venom 3. Starring Tom Hardy once more as Eddie Brock, the film will conclude the Venom trilogy. While little about Venom 3‘s SSU story or the extended cast has been announced as of yet, the film is expected to wrap shooting before Summer 2024, enabling the production to hit its prospective release date of November that year.

Sony’s Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse Is Still Coming

The final – and perhaps most exciting – future Spider-Man film will be the final installment in Sony Animation’s Spider-Verse trilogy. Following on from the cliffhanger ending of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Beyond the Spider-Verse is set to tell the final story of Miles Morales’ journey. The film was originally planned for a March 2024 release but has since been delayed due to the extensive animation work needed to craft a film that rivals or exceeds the quality of the first two movies.

The film is expected to star returning voice actors Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, and Oscar Isaac among many others. While a release date is yet to be confirmed by Sony, the film is expected in 2025. If it was not already obvious from the sheer quality of the first two movies, the promise of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse falls squarely on the “hype” side of Sony’s Spider-Man cycle that began 15 years ago.