MCU Phase 5 Can Finally Pull Off Sony's Failed Spider-Man Dream

Sony has been trying for years to get a Sinister Six project off the ground in their Spider-Man franchise, but it's the MCU that stands a far better chance of making something similar work. Sony evidently has no intention of scrapping the Sinister Six movie after Morbius. They're soldiering on with the next rogue to make their big-screen debut, Kraven the Hunter. However, the efforts have so far been underwhelming and due in no small part to Sony's management of the concept. However, the MCU has a villain team-up that could steal the thunder right out from under Sony: the Masters of Evil.

First appearing in Avengers #6 (1964), the Masters of Evil were the first alliance of super-villains assembled to topple Earth's Mightiest Heroes. They were comprised of several enemies whom the Avengers had previously battled and had powers well suited for combating them. Baron Zemo was Captain America's physical match and moral antithesis. The Melter was Iron Man's counterpart, with the Radioactive Man being the answer to Thor and the Black Knight - who's already in the MCU - being there to fight both Giant-Man and the Wasp. Later renditions of the team would refine the roster, such as replacing Zemo with Doctor Octopus, Ultron, and even Zemo's own descendant.

Setting up the Masters of Evil throughout Phase 5 would be an easy way for the MCU to steal the thunder from Sony, beating them to the punch with a potentially better result. Sony infamously mishandled their first efforts to set up Sinister Six and continues to have trouble with it. Meanwhile, the MCU could introduce a twist to its well-tested formula to properly set up all the necessary rogues. What's more, the Masters of Evil would provide a chance to see a new kind of threat in the MCU.

Sony is clearly struggling with the Sinister Six idea. They already dropped the ball once with the unfortunate failure of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which focused so heavily on trying to set up the Sinister Six that it ultimately detracted from the rest of the film. While Sony's new Spider-verse had one relative success in Venom, the movie that actually aimed to set up the evil faction, Morbius, was a meme-worthy flop. Not only that, but its brief Vulture post-credits scene was widely mocked, partially because of how much Michael Keaton's Vulture was featured in early promotion, and largely because of how forced it was. Even Spider-Man: No Way Home, while an overwhelming success, was an MCU film and still wasn't truly the Sinister Six movie Sony had been promising. On top of that, this assembly of villains wasn't built up to, so much as retroactively pulled from prior movies.

The MCU does have the tools, however, to build up to the Masters of Evil. Sony's current method of introducing the Sinister Six is ultimately flawed in that only one of its members presently has any connection to Spider-Man, and it isn't even the Spider-Man of their particular universe. On the other hand, the optimal way to execute such an idea would be to introduce all of the members across a series of three or four Spider-Man films, then do the team-up. While that method seems unlikely to happen with Sony's Spider-verse, the MCU could easily take that route with the Avengers, establishing new arch-nemeses for each of the new core members throughout Phase 5, then letting them return in a later team-up. The MCU even has a head start on this as Zemo is still kicking around and is exactly the type of mastermind who might orchestrate such a meeting.

With a new era for the Avengers on the horizon, new types of threats ought to be considered. The Avengers have fought gods, homicidal androids, and cosmic warlords, as well as one another. Provided this generation of heroes leaves enough of their enemies alive, a team-up of their respective arch-foes, assembled specifically to eradicate them would be a new one to add to the list for the MCU. Where Sony struggles with their Spider-verse and the Sinister Six, the MCU can succeed with the Masters of Evil, giving this new generation of Avengers a truly worthy threat to face.

Next: No Way Home: Doc Ock Proves A Traditional Sinister Six Movie Is Dead