Scrapped SINISTER SIX Movie Was a Wild Spider-Man Story That Ignored Continuity and Played by Its Own Rules

There was a time when Sony Pictures had a full-on Spider-Man universe mapped out, and right at the center of it sat a Sinister Six movie that could’ve been unlike anything we’ve seen from a comic book film.

Now, years later, writer and director Drew Goddard is sharing details on what that project was aiming to be, and it sounds pretty awesome and a little chaotic.

Back in the early 2010s, Sony was trying to build momentum off The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel. The first film set up a new version of Peter Parker, even teasing a bigger mystery involving his parents, Richard and Mary Parker, and some strange genetic experimentation. T

hat idea didn’t exactly land, and by the time The Amazing Spider-Man 2 rolled around, the studio had shifted gears hard toward universe-building.

That sequel leaned heavily into setting up future villains and spin-offs, including Sinister Six, along with planned follow-ups The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and 4. But between lukewarm reactions and the fallout from the Sony Hack, those plans fell apart.

Sony eventually teamed up with Marvel Studios, bringing in Tom Holland as a new Spider-Man starting with Captain America: Civil War, and the franchise took a completely different direction.

Still, for a brief window, Goddard’s Sinister Six was very real. In fact, he even stepped away from Netflix’s Daredevil to focus on writing and directing it. Speaking with Coy Jandreau for Project Hail Mary, Goddard shared what made his take stand out.

"I wanted it to feel like a summer annual. I feel like I'm tired of serialisation in comic book movies. I get the important part, but what I loved was the summer annual where you had the ongoing, but then every summer you would get one story that was bananas.

“I said when I pitched it, 'I'm not going to screw up anyone's continuity, but I want to feel like, 'Oh my god, what happened?'"

"That was the feeling that I wanted to get. I still haven't seen anyone capture that. I'm not giving up. I got to get a summer annual."

That idea alone sets it apart from the interconnected storytelling we’re used to now. Instead of being tied down by strict continuity, Goddard wanted something that felt like a one-off comic event. Something unpredictable. Something that makes you stop and go, what did I just watch?

And while Sinister Six was expected to focus on villains, Goddard confirmed it wasn’t leaving Spider-Man out of the picture.

"It was a Spider-Man movie. That's the other thing I'll tell you. Spider-Man was in the movie, but it was a different approach."

That raises a lot of questions about how the web-slinger would’ve fit into a story led by his enemies. Would he have been the antagonist from their perspective? A looming threat? Or something even stranger? We’ll probably never know, but it’s a fascinating angle that still hasn’t been fully explored on screen.

Sony did try pivoting toward villain-centric storytelling later with films like Morbius, even teasing connections that might’ve led to a team-up involving characters like Vulture. But those plans didn’t stick, and that version of Sinister Six quietly faded away after poor reception and underwhelming box office results.

Ironically, fans got the closest thing to a live-action Sinister Six lineup in Spider-Man: No Way Home, where Spider-Man faced off against Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Electro, Sandman, and The Lizard. Still, that wasn’t quite the same as a full villain team-up movie.

Hearing Goddard talk about his vision, it’s hard not to imagine how different things could’ve been. A standalone, slightly unhinged Spider-Man story centered around a crew of villains sounds like the kind of swing that could’ve either crashed hard or become something truly memorable.