SPIDER-MAN: Sony Pictures Brazil Teases Sinister Six Film

A social media update by Sony Pictures Brazil revealed today that something sinister this way comes.

The Portuguese translation for “Temos Planos Pra Voce… #homemaranha” is “We Have Plans For You…. #Spiderman”

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Post by Sony Pictures.

Does this mean that production for the long awaited Spider-Man spin-off film is underway for its November 2016 release?

Drew Goddard has been tapped to direct the film. Chris Cooper is one of the stars set to appear.

The fate of Sinister Six, the Spider-Man franchise, and Sony Pictures, has been in question in the last few months. Last summer’s Amazing Spider-Man 2 garnered negative reviews and accrued a box office total of $708 million worldwide, making it the lowest grossing and poorest performing film in the series.

While two more sequels for an Amazing Spider-Man movie had been announced, they’ve both been delayed indefinitely.

November’s cyberhack hack by the group, Guardians of Peace, was the proverbial Pandora’s Box for the movie studio. Emails, classified documents, upcoming feature films, personal attacks against celebrities, their families and President Obama were made public online. The studio is still doing damage control.

While the Spider-Man spin-off may be moving forward, Spider-Man himself is still in limbo. As of October 2014, reports indicate Garfield is out of the franchise. Allegedly his criticisms against Sony alienated some powerful figures. Garfield also stood up the company at a corporate dinner in July.

With Garfield gone, it raises the question if Peter Parker will simply be recast or will another web-slinger be introduced? In an interview last year, Garfield supported the idea of introducing fellow Spider-Man, Miles Morales and having him co-exist with Parker or having the torch be passed to the younger super hero.

A Spider-Man spin-off featuring a female lead has also been under consideration by Sony Pictures. Would she debut in the Sinister Six film first?

While the social media update provides a possible answer about the status of the Sinister Six film and the Spider-Man franchise, it also raises more than a few questions.

SPIDER-MAN FRANCHISE: Drew Goddard Thinks A ‘Godzilla’ Sized ‘Sandman’ In SINISTER SIX Could Top DOCTOR STRANGE

In a email with the subject line “[Deadline.com] Marvel Starts Doctor Strange Search: Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch Early Wish Listers” from back in June, Drew Goddard pens an email to Amy Pascal in which he appears to talk about writing up a note to Tom Hardy about why he should choose Sinister Six over Doctor Strange (he would of course end up picking DC Comics adaptation Suicide Squad over both). Here the ridiculous sounding email from Goddard it is in its entirety:

I’m gonna write him up a note this weekend. But, off the top of my head, some possible talking points are:

– We’re doing something different – it’s time to celebrate the bad guys for once.
-We’re inspired by the classic team/mission of movies: Dirty Dozen, Magnificent Seven, Guns of Navarone. We want that spirit, that SWAGGER.
– If the Spider-Man franchiseis the Beatles, then we’re the Sex Pistols.
-Flint Marco is gonna steal the show.
-The character is pure id – the anarchic enthusiast of the team. A chance to have FUN while celebrating being bad.
-Tom embodies that anarchy, that triumphant nihilism – we’ve seen him tap into that spirit before in roles like Bronson, but now we have the chance to crank the volume up to ELEVEN.
-He’s gonna storm through London at the end like God-f***ing-zilla. That is not purple prose. He’sgoing to be AS TALL AS A SKYSCRAPER in the third act of the movie. What does Dr. Strange have? Magic tricks? [frick] you, magic tricks – we’ve got a skyscraper Tom Hardy knocking down buildings!!!!

Wow. I’m not sure about you guys, but I am extremely relieved that this idiot had to step down as Daredevil’s showrunner. You can appreciate that he’s just trying to come up with ways of selling Sinister Six and the role of Sandman to Tom Hardy, but is recycling one of THE worst parts of Spider-Man 3 really the best way to do that? Goddard clearly thinks so, and if this is the best he can come up with for the final act, who knows how bad the rest was! Thankfully someone at Sony seemingly saw sense as there was no mention of this movie at Comic-Con (one email revealed plans for Goddard to announce it at the event) and it appears to have stalled since. If Marvel Studios do end up making a deal with Sony, here’s hoping Goddard isn’t part of it.

SPIDER-MAN FRANCHISE: Channing Tatum As ‘Venom’? Here’s Who Else Sony Wanted For SINISTER SIX…

In emails from late May (before The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ended up being a critical and commercial failure and fans recoiled at the idea of a movie starring The Sinister Six), the spinoff was moving along at a steady pace. However, by the time October rolled around, there was talk of it also featuring Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage. November meanwhile would see a deal with Marvel begin to fall into place…and then quickly fall apart if some reports are to be believed! Regardless, The Sinister Six has likely gone through a lot of iterations by now, but that makes the following no less interesting. If the movie does somehow happen? Here’s who Sony might want!

Thanks to musician Val Broeksmit of Bikini Robot Army (who sifted through these emails for us and provided us with proof of their authenticity), we know who Sony were considering for some of the key roles in The Sinister Six. Unfortunately, first names are used in some instances, so we couldn’t quite figure out who was who, but the ones you see below are the ones we do know for sure. Bare in mind that this is a wishlist, NOT confirmation of actors who they were in talks with.

Drew Goddard apparently loved the idea of Tom Hardy playing Sandman, and in one email really pushed for Emily Blunt as Scorpia (who is an actual comic book character, and not just a female version of Scorpion). Amy Pascal put forward Emilia Clarke and Elizabeth Olsen, but noted that it was too late to do anything about the latter due to her Avengers: Age of Ultron role. Sean Penn, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, and Daniel Craig were also all discussed/rejected for roles, with Penn directly mentioned as a Doctor Octopus candidate. Woody Harrelson is too. Colin Firth is also suggested as The Vulture. Going back to Sandman, he’ll apparently be the movie’s comic relief, and so a list of names are reeled off, including Danny McBride, Jonah Hill, Chris O’Dowd, Michael Pena, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Sharlto Copley, and a number of others.

Things take a slightly offensive turn when Amy Pascal “jokingly” suggests Jared Leto for Felicia Hardy and points out that Emily Blunt looked “anorexic” in a recent photo. Keri Russell might be too “Keri Russell” apparently, but she does like the thought of Ruth Wilson or Rose Byrne taking on the role of Scorpia. Idris Elba meanwhile is apparently “only good when he speaks British”, and Pascal even suggests turning to Jackie Chan or “original bad guy walter white” who she asks, “is he ever good in anything else”. Really. This is basically just a brain fart of ideas, but there were definitely some actors they were more keen on than others. For example? Channing Tatum apparently wants to play Venom, but now that he’s Gambit, that seems less likely.

Some final bits for you; Doctor Octopus is described as the team’s leader and needs to have quirks so as not to be boring as The Sinister Six’s straight man. Avi Arad also suggested female Venom Ann Weiying for the female team spinoff, and Hannah Minghella brings up a suggestion made in jest by Emma Stone that she returns as Carnage (like in the Ultimate comics) as a “thought to consider for the future” because it “could be really cool/sexy/intense to see.” Crazy stuff, eh?