Drew Goddard Says the Sony Hack Killed His 'Sinister Six' Movie

The 2014 Sony hack is one of the biggest information breaches in corporate history—and one that was ultimately hugely important to the cinematic legacy of Spider-Man. Across thousands and thousands of emails, a picture began to emerge of Sony’s increasing floundering over how to approach its ownership of one of the most popular comic book characters of all time, the potential for an ascendant Marvel Studios to come in and offer a helping hand, and, of course, many (many) plans and attempts at spinning Spider-Man off into his own cinematic universe. For a very long time, most of that plan centered on the Sinister Six—six of Spidey’s rogues, usually spearheaded by Doc Ock, combining their villainy into an organized team. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 tried to set it up, only for the film’s sequel to fizzle out amid poor reactions and the lingering damage of the hack. As Spider-Man: Homecoming took off a whole new era for the character, those plans always lingered in some form. But for Drew Goddard, who was at one point tasked with bringing these villainous characters to life, his vision of the team died with that 2014 breach. “I had a big Spider-Man movie about the Sinister Six go down be