Spider-Man spinoffs still on without Marvel's help

With the news of the agreement between Sony and Marvel regarding Spider-Man, there were some questions regarding the upcoming spinoff films Sony already has given the green light to. We learned today that Sinister Six and Venom are indeed still moving forward and they will not require the assistance of Marvel and Kevin Feige.

There is no confirmation on whether Alex Kurtzman and Drew Goddard are still attached to their respective films, but the fact that Sony managed to hang out to these projects is pretty surprising. With that said, I would assume that Kurtzman and Goddard are going to stay in the picture. Without the involvement of Kevin Feige, who will co-produce the next solo Spidey film, Sony seems to want to try and prove once again that they can create a successful interconnected universe.
One thing to remember is now that Spider-Man can appear in Marvel films, that means Marvel characters can appear in the Sony films. This does open a possibility of introducing Marvel cameos into Venom and/or Sinister Six. Goddard does have some experience dealing with Marvel as he was originally attached to the Daredevil series set to premiere on Netflix, but he departed due to his commitments to Sinister Six. 

With the announced agreement between the studios last night it was also confirmed that previously announced Sony versions of The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 have been officially canceled. Sony had already delayed the projects by a year but with Marvel stepping in they have opted to restart with a new Spider-Man film in 2017. This all was kickstarted by the complete failure that was The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Many fans called for yet another reboot of the character with new villains and a new Peter Parker and it looks like they are getting their wish as Marvel is hoping to cast a younger actor to portray Spidey. Sorry, Andrew Garfield.

Drew Goddard exits Daredevil series

Marvel must be acting like a bunch of assholes with these upcoming projects as they have lost a second director in two days. Drew Goddard has exited the upcoming Marvel/Netflix series Daredevil citing creative differences.

Goddard was set to write, direct, and produce a 13-episode run for Daredevil which was slated to debut on Netflix sometime next year. There are also rumors of Zac Efron being brought in for the title role, but that is just a rumor. Goddard's replacement has already been announced to be Steven S. DeKnight. He is most known for the television adaptation of Spartacus.
Many are thinking that creative differences weren't the biggest issue, but that Goddard has also been hired to write the screenplay for the Sinister Six movie as well as direct the film. The thought is that Sony didn't think Goddard could properly split his time between Sinister Six and Daredevil. Again, that is just word on the street.

Either way, I think this goes to show that the creative input from Marvel Studios isn't going over too well at the current moment. Along with the departure of Goddard, the studio lost Edgar Wright yesterday due to creative differences. Apparently Marvel was putting Ant-Man into rewrites without Wright's input or permission and he felt uncomfortable with said rewrites. With the way the Marvel Cinematic Universe is unfolding I wouldn't put it past the studio to try and insert certain characters or arcs into each movie as a setup for the next rather than just have a great superhero film. I like the MCU but I'm not that much of a fangirl to overlook the fact that some things are put in just to set something up for another movie.

Could this have been the issue with Daredevil? Only time will tell.

Drew Goddard to direct The Sinister Six

It was spotted almost immediately after the trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hit, but we now have some official confirmation that The Sinister Six will indeed be moving forward and it will be directed by Drew Goddard.

Goddard got his start writing for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Alias, as well as Lost and Angel, and made his directorial debut with The Cabin in the Woods back in 2012. Before that he wrote Cloverfield for Matt Reeves. He had already been hired to write Sinister Six, along with Marvel's Daredevil series to hit Netflix, so it is somewhat surprising to see him also picked to direct. But, at the same time it isn't that surprising.
The Sinister Six focuses on Spider-Man's villainous enemies. The comics focused on Electro, Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture, and Kraven the Hunter. It does appear that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is acting as more of a precursor to The Sinister Six rather than being a direct sequel to the first Amazing Spider-Man. Set to appear in the TASM2 are Electro, Green Goblin, and Rhino but there is no telling who else will be hinted at or show up. Also bear in mind that The Lizard was not killed in the first one, but was merely locked up.

There is no set timetable for The Sinister Six just yet, but Sony did announce plans to release a Spider-Man movie every year. Slots already taken are The Amazing Spider-Man 3 for 2016 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 for 2018. It is possible we could see The Sinister Six for 2017 unless Venom takes that slot and they push Sinister Six for 2019 or double up 2018 with two releases.