Sony Is Rebooting Their Live-Action Spider-Verse. Should We Be Excited or Concerned?
By Jimigrimm | February 25th, 2026
Sony CEO Tom Rothman confirmed on The Town podcast on February 24, 2026, that the studio’s live-action Spider-Man spinoff universe is getting a full reboot with new actors across the board. No more Jared Leto Morbius. No more Dakota Johnson Madame Web. No more Aaron Taylor-Johnson Kraven. A complete reset.
The question is: does a fresh start actually fix anything, or is Sony about to make the same mistakes twice?
Let’s look at this from every angle and let you decide.
The Case for the Reboot
Sony has every reason to try again. Spider-Man is one of the most valuable IPs in entertainment, and the studio needs to keep producing content to maintain those character rights. Walking away isn’t an option.
And the first run had real problems. Outside of the Venom trilogy, the numbers tell the story. The original Venom made $856 million worldwide in 2018. That’s a hit by any standard. But from there, the trajectory went in one direction: down. Venom: Let There Be Carnage dropped to $506 million. Venom: The Last Dance fell further to roughly $477 million. Then you look at the non-Venom entries: Morbius pulled in $167 million, Madame Web barely cleared $100 million, and Kraven the Hunter bottomed out at just $62 million, becoming the only film in the franchise to not even crack $100 million.
A reboot lets Sony distance itself from that track record. New actors, new creative direction, and hopefully new lessons learned. If they approach these characters with better scripts, stronger creative vision, and a real understanding of what audiences actually want, there’s no reason the IP can’t work.
There’s also a timing argument here. The animated Spider-Verse films have proven that audiences love this world when it’s done right. Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse are two of the most acclaimed superhero films of the last decade. Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Noir series premieres May 27, 2026, on Prime Video, and early reactions to the trailer have been overwhelmingly positive. Sony clearly knows how to get Spider-Man right. The live-action spinoffs just weren’t the vehicle for it.
A reboot with that same creative energy could be exactly what the franchise needs.
The Case Against It
Here’s the uncomfortable truth that a reboot doesn’t solve: the fundamental problem was never the cast. It was the strategy.
Sony tried to build a shared universe around Spider-Man villains and side characters without actually including Spider-Man. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker was locked into the MCU, so these films existed in a weird limbo where they technically shared a universe with Spider-Man but couldn’t meaningfully use him. The result was a string of villain origin stories where the villain had no hero to play off of.
New actors don’t fix that. If the rebooted versions of Morbius, Kraven, and whoever comes next still exist in a Spider-Man-less vacuum, a fresh coat of paint isn’t going to change the outcome. These characters need a Spider-Man to work, whether that’s Peter Parker, Miles Morales, or someone else entirely.
There’s also the question of audience trust. Superhero fatigue is real, and Sony’s brand in this space took a beating. Rothman himself acknowledged on the podcast that scarcity has value, saying the studio needs to make audiences miss them. That’s a fair point, but it also means the first project back has to be undeniable. If the reboot launches with another mid-tier character that general audiences don’t recognize, the goodwill runs out fast.
The Bigger Picture
This reboot doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters July 31, 2026. Beyond the Spider-Verse is slated for 2027. Spider-Noir is coming to streaming. Sony is actively working in the Spider-Man space across multiple formats and tones.
The question isn’t whether Sony should keep making Spider-Man content. Of course they should. The question is whether a rebooted live-action spinoff universe is the right play, or whether those resources would be better spent on projects with Spider-Man actually in them.
Some fans want Sony to just hand these characters back to Marvel Studios and let them live in the MCU. Others think Sony can absolutely pull this off if they commit to quality over quantity and stop trying to build a universe before they’ve built a single great standalone film. Both sides have a point.
Where Do You Stand?
Sony is going back to the drawing board. That much is confirmed. What isn’t confirmed is whether they’ve actually learned the right lessons, or if they’re just going to run the same playbook with different faces.
Should Sony reboot the live-action Spider-Verse, or should they focus on what’s already working and leave these characters alone? Is a Spider-Man spinoff universe even possible without Spider-Man in it? We want to hear your take. Drop it in the comments and let’s get into it.