Drew Goddard Explains Why He Isn't Directing Marvel and Sony's New SPIDER-MAN Film

When news broke that Sony had abandoned plans to continue its live-action Spider-Man universe, Drew Goddard's planned Sinister Six movie was a part of the collateral damage. For many film fans, Goddard — who's been involved with majorly geeky properties like Buffy, Angel, Alias, LOST, Cloverfield, World War Z, and Daredevil — felt like the obvious choice to take over Sony's new Spider-Man solo film with Marvel Studios. But that job ended up going to Cop Car director Jon Watts, and now Goddard, who is in Toronto promoting The Martian, has explained to Cinema Blend why he didn't take the gig:

I mean, I think that’s more a question for them, but here’s the good news. I’ve worked with Marvel a lot. The way that Marvel sort of works is they say, ‘Hey, do you have an idea for… Here’s the movies we’re thinking about making…’ They sort of tell the world what they’re thinking of making, and they sort of put out there, if you have an idea for any of these, come talk to us.

And I think, with Spider-Man, I didn’t really have an idea. Part of that might have just been because I had just written one. I spent a year working on Sinister Six, and I think I was like in a head space where I just didn’t… you know, it’s very hard to say, ‘Ok, now write a new movie.’ So, it never got that far. We never, it never got taken that far. They know how much respect I have for them. They’ve been very nice to me over the years, and I know sooner or later, we’re going to find the right project. It’s all about timing.

I never really thought about the situation from that angle before. Sure, Goddard spent a long time developing a story in the Spider-Man universe, but it's a tall order to ask someone to scrap something they've been working on and come up with something completely fresh and new instead. It sounds like he still has an amicable relationship with Marvel, and we should probably expect for him to work on another Marvel property one day down the line. I look forward to seeing what Watts does with his Spider-Man movie, which hits theaters on July 28th, 2017.