Rebranding is a tricky thing. Dunkin Donuts dropped the “Donuts” and became just Dunkin. Kentucky Fried Chicken wanted to go for a more healthy image and now goes by KFC (as if we are going to forget the “Fried” part of the name). Now Sony has decided to rebrand their Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (you know, the universe that revolves around Marvel’s Spider-Man without having Spider-Man in that universe) to “Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.”
Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) is less of a mouthful than the previous name and makes a lot more sense. After all, Sony would be remiss to not want to emphasize the Spidey connection, even if, at the moment, he is calling Marvel home.
Although the name may be new, this universe has been around for quite some time. It all began when Sony decided to create a new franchise based on comic characters associated with Spider-Man. In 2018, the film Venom with Tom Hardy was released kicking off this new shared universe which has now grown to include Morbius, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Madame Web, and on TV, Silk.
But what does this all mean for the future of Sony’s Marvel properties with this new name? Spider-Man: Far From Home is the last film Tom Holland is contracted to appear under Marvel, and with the plot of the film involving the Multiverse (and featuring several Sony characters from Spider-Man movies of years past), does that mean we may see Holland’s webhead sling over to Sony for future projects? Or will Sony be bringing a different comic version into their live-action universe such as Miles Morales (Ultimate Spider-Man), Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man 2099), or even Max Borne (Spider-Man 2211)?
It’s an interesting thought and with the name “Spider-Man” prominently in the rebranding, it does make us wonder what the name change really means and where the future of the Marvel Sony-verse is headed. We’ll just have to wait and see, but it’s fun to speculate until we hear something concrete.
