Hacked Sony Email Leaks- news on comic book properties

The fallout from the massive hacking of Sony's servers continues, with emails that add further speculation on what Sony's future plans for Spider-Man might include. The leaked confidential emails also potentially spoil other studio's plans for their comic book properties, including naming the possible director of Warner Bros.' Aquaman, and Fox's future plans for a Fantastic Four and X-Men crossover.

The first report deals with an 8-page document, outlining a plan to reboot the Spider-Man franchise sent to Sony Pictures Entertainment's co-chairman Amy Pascal from Jeff Robinov, head of Studio 8. In the document Robinov advises against telling another origin story when the franchise is rebooted, and offers a list of filmmakers "that come to mind" to takeover the reboot. Some of the notable names include Brad Bird, James Gunn, Edgar Wright, as well as The LEGO Movie's Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who have been mentioned in previous leaks to take on the web-head for Sony.

Rabinov also suggests that a future film could tackle "Kraven's Last Hunt," the story from "Amazing Spider-Man" #293-294, with Raboniv adding, "In fact, Comic Book Resources polled their readers in 2012, and this storyline was voted as the single greatest Spider-Man storyline of all time." Robinov also makes the case for an adult Spider-Man jumping to the big-screen, writing, "It might feel fresh to see Peter Parker juggling with adult issues. He’s done so in the comics for decades, and kids still found this fun to read."

The second report is focused on an email to Pascal from Michael De Luca, co-president of Columbia Pictures, and names Jeff Nichols as the director for 2018's Aquaman film, set to star Jason Momoa, as well as plans for Fox's Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises to crossover sometime in the future, adding that Sony should pursue a Spider-verse crossover:

“[Simon] Kinberg told me fox is steering Xmen and Fantastic Four into an eventual team up film,” wrote De Luca in the email. “Seems to me maybe, since the Spider-man universe itself is deep, you guys should look at sinister six, new spidey, female movie and venom as linked pieces leading to eventual mega movie ala Feige and Fox and not stand alone single films. It's early in all these and you can still map out a blueprint for connective tissue.”

Actor Andrew Garfield may be booted from the Spider-Man movie series, according to the latest revelation from hacked emails at Sony. The correspondence reveals that Sony (who was reportedly already not happy with Garfield, after he angered bosses at Sony when he pulled out of a dinner with top company executives at the last minute. Sony CEO Kaz Hirai was due to mention the fact he was at the dinner in July to impress senior board members, who are said to have been offended by his absence) still wants to explore the option of working with Marvel.

It's a bit hazy at the moment, with meetings at the studio about the future of the Spider-Man franchise to take place next month. Basically, some kind of 60/40 split arrangement, with Sony retaining creative control, is still a desired outcome, but a lot of factors are at play. Firstly, Marvel probably won't go for that kind of deal, no matter how much Sony will stress they want to bring their A-game to the material. However, if some kind of arrangement could be made, either to bring Spider-Man back to Marvel or in conjunction with Sony, it would be a complete reboot; dropping all of the cast members from Marc Webb's films and skipping the origin story which has been explicated at feature length twice in a decade, the new films would commence with the teenage web-slinger already living a double life. Again, if this all works out, this new Spider-Man could appear in Captain America: The Civil War, but would not be a lead role and would be a cameo at best (the script is apparently locked for that film).

But this scenario would complicate or altogether scuttle Sony's other plans for the character and franchise, including, according to The Wall Street Journal, an animated movie to be produced by The LEGO Movie's Phil Lord and Chris Miller, two "Spidey-verse" expansions- Sinister Six and Venom, as well as "spin-offs focused on...women from the webslinger’s life." (But plans for an Aunt May spin-off are said to have already been shelved.) Indeed, according to leaked emails (via Comic Book Movie), Venom or Carnage are being debated as the baddie for Sinister Six. Meanwhile, it appears that Anthony and Joe Russo were approached to produce Sony's Spider-Man (reboot) but turned it down, revealing they are attached to direct Avengers: Infinity War for Marvel (confirming a long-running rumor).

So, what do you think about these revelations? Which of these pieces of news would you describe as being great, good, meh, bad or terrible respectively? So, for a brief summary:

1. Jeff Robinov and Studio 8 have plans to reboot Sony Pictures' Spider-Man franchise, tackling the "Kraven's Last Hunt" story from "Amazing Spider-Man" #293-294, with an adult Peter Parker; along with his nominated list of filmmakers to take over the reboot (Brad Bird, James Gunn, Edgar Wright, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, etc)
2. Jeff Nichols will be the director for Warner Brothers' Aquaman film in 2018, which is set to star Jason Momoa as Aquaman
3. Simon Kinberg and Fox have big plans for their Fantastic Four and X-Men franchises to cross-over sometime in the future, steering them into an eventual team-up film
4. Andrew Garfield (and all of the cast members from Marc Webb's films) are set to be booted from the Spider-Man movie series
5. A potential arrangement is still being negotiated to bring Spider-Man into the MCU, either by bringing him back to Marvel or in conjunction with Sony (in a complete reboot which skips the origin story, where Spidey's already living a double life), along with his cameo in Captain America: The Civil War
6. Sony have their own plans for the franchise if the arrangement with Marvel falls through; an animated Spidey movie to be produced by The LEGO Movie's Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the Sinister Six (with either Venom or Carnage set to be cast as the 'villain'/antagonist in this film) and Venom spin-off films, and other "spin-offs focused on...women from the webslinger’s life."
7. It's confirmed that Anthony and Joe Russo are indeed going to be the directors of Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War.

C.

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B.

So they will reboot, change the actors and director, over notice their mistake was their producers and writers.

Nothing is going to change if they dont notice who were the real guilty ones about this happening.

If Sony execs were discussing hypotheticals via internal emails, then it must be confirmed!

Also, everything the OP said is just what we've been hearing in other articles all across the Internet. Nothing new there.

Hey, no-one else had mentioned any of it here yet, so I decided to bring it up on the forum. Is there anything wrong with that?

If X-Men and Fantastic Four crossover they will unite against cosmic alien enemies. We haven't seen the Shiar or Brood yet so there's a-lot of room to tell a story that works with the FF.

Well, I guess so. And of course, you couldn't have an X-Men and FF cross-over without bringing Franklin Richards into the world first...

I hope Fox doesn't retcon Franklin RIchards into being a miracle instead of a mutant.

I'm high asf rn.

Well, if they want to tie the two franchises together into a single franchise, it'd be ideal for them to keep Franklin Richards as a mutant. For such a cross-over film, I'd go with a plot which revolves around Franklin Richards. This would commence with Franklin beginning to manifesting his powers while still a toddler in the Baxter Building Nursery- unlike most mutants, who only begin to manifest their powers from the onset of puberty- due to his parents' radiation-altered genes. This draws the attention of Annihilus, who seeks to use Franklin as a source for his own resurgence (and invasion of Earth via an inter-dimensional portal, Avengers-style), transferring some measure of the child's latent power to himself with a gene-based machine, and releasing Franklin's full potential in the process. Fearing the immediate threat of his son's powers to the entire populace of Earth, Reed Richards turns to the only solution available to him, the only person who can place the necessary barriers in Franklin's mind and keep him from destroying the world; Professor X, and his X-Men.

@sundeep: Wow that was interesting, you have an awesome imagination.

• Is Valeria born yet?
• How can Wolverine save the day? That's important.
• Who's on the X-Men roster?

Thanks. Valeria- probably not. How'd Wolverine save the day? Maybe he gets to be the one who mauls Annihilus to death, and wins the day for them (if his character's still alive by this stage- Hugh Jackman may be getting weary of being defined by the role). As for the X-Men roster, I'd wait until after the pending X-Men Apocalypse and X-Force films before speculating. Don't know who's going to be added to the main roster or who's going to die over the course of those films...