A new plot leak for the upcoming Venom 3 involving a preteen Peter Parker just reinforces a longtime suspicion about the execs at Sony: they don’t understand Spider-Man. How else do you explain a studio that has had the rights to make Spider-Man movies for over 20 years, continuing to churn out films about him but without him? Even the Spider-Verse films—amazing as they are—can’t make up for all of Sony’s cinematic miscarriages like Madame Web and Morbius.

From Hero To Murderer?

Venom 3 or Venom: The Last Dance is rumored to be about Eddie Brock hunting down a 10-year-old Peter Parker with plans to murder the kid in cold blood before he can grow up, become Spider-Man, and kill Venom first. After establishing Venom as something of a hero for two movies, Sony thinks suddenly turning him into a child killer is a good idea.

If the leak turns out to be true, Sony also thinks audiences want to see a pre-Spider-Man Peter Parker in Venom 3. Spoilers: they don’t. Just like no one was clamoring for Spider-Fetus to show up in Madam Web.

Sony Is Focusing On The Wrong Characters

Sony may not even understand superhero movies, period. Why do they keep pushing out movies based on Spider-Man villains? First of all, most comic book fans only care about Spidey’s supporting cast when they are, in fact, supporting him.

Venom is obviously an exception. The Venom character is one of the few Spider-Man characters strong enough to stand on his own. We wouldn’t be getting a Venom 3 otherwise. But Madam Web? Kraven? These are not headliners. They need Spider-Man to be relevant.

Kraven’s most famous story literally involves him “killing” and then becoming Spider-Man. Oddly, Morbius has been a successful solo act several times in the comics, which highlights Sony’s other big problem: they just aren’t making these movies very well. That’s a problem if they want their Spider-Man Universe to survive, especially now that Venom 3 has been confirmed to be the last Venom movie.

Lean Into What Works Instead

Speaking of which, the Venom franchise was a happy accident that Sony should stop trying to recreate. The only reason Venom and Venom 2 made so much money is that audiences love the chemistry between Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote (Hardy also uses some kind of voice modulator). If Sony were smart, Venom 3 would be nothing but 90 min of Eddie Brock and Venom arguing like a married couple.

Guaranteed blockbuster. But Sony isn’t smart—hence 10-year-old Peter Parker in Venom 3.

What About Miles Morales?

Even if, for some reason, Sony didn’t want to make a full-grown Peter Parker film because it might take away from the MCU Spider-Man series, they could still do a different Spider-Man. The fact that we’re getting a Venom 3 before a live-action Miles Morales movie feels like the plot of a YA mystery novel titled The Case of the Movie Studio That Hated Money.

Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, heck, even one of the three Spider-Women teased in Madam Web—there are so many other Spider-Mans Sony could have used to anchor a Spider-Man Cinematic Universe. But no, instead, we’re getting Venom 3 with a ten-year-old Peter Parker.

Sam Raimi Did It Right

But what about the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies or the Spider-Verse films? Simple. Sam Raimi gets Spider-Man. Lord and Miller get Spider-Man.

Sony, as a movie studio, does not, and Venom 3—as well as the rest of their Spider-Manless Spider-Man Universe—proves that.