It looks like Sony's Spider-Man Universe could have featured Marvel’s live-action Spidey characters such as Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, but the studio felt that audiences ultimately didn't want that.
Sony’s Spider-Man spin-offs could have featured Holland’s Spider-Man and more Spider-People such as Gwen Stacey and Mary Jane as Sony’s deal with Disney never outlined they couldn't, as found by Variety. This means that Sony’s Venom franchise, Madame Web, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter could have featured our favorite Spider-Man heroes, but the studio reportedly just didn't think audiences wanted that in a non-MCU project.
As we know, Sony decided to focus on Spidey’s villains instead. After the success of the first Venom movie, the studio hasn’t been deterred from this path since. We did get one cameo-of-sorts from Holland in a Venom 2 post-credits scene, but since then, there has been no sight of Spidey heroes. But could their inclusion have improved the Sony movies?
Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock told Variety, "Unfortunately for Sony, they had a taste of success with Venom, and that kind of spoiled everything for them, because they thought they could just spin off all of these characters… To not have Spider-Man in these films was the fatal flaw."
It sounds as though Bock is right as Sony’s most recent release, Kraven The Hunter, has debuted to less than impressive reviews and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 15% (up from an original 9% score).
