Marvel Studios Can Finally Perfect the Movie Trend That Sony Keeps Fumbling (2025)

The MCU has undoubtedly changed the game regarding comic book movies by bringing the shared comic book universe to life. It's become a formula that other studios have tried to crack, but many have failed. While Marvel Studios has made itself known for films that tie into a larger ongoing story, that's not the only type of comic book movie studios have produced. For example, Sony has tried to take advantage of having the rights holders of the Spider-Man franchise by making spin-off films focused on his villains. While Venom has succeeded in terms of box office, others like Morbius and Madame Web have failed, hurting the genre's reputation.

There are many reasons Sony's Spider-Man villain films have missed the mark, and it's something Marvel Studios can fix. While the MCU has become known for its crossovers, the studio has also evolved with animated shows and special presentations and launched new labels like Marvel Spotlight. Another direction Marvel Studios can go is to right the wrongs of Sony's mistakes and start making proper villain films.

DC Has Been Successful With Villain-Centric Projects

• While Warner Bros. failed with its Catwoman film in the early 2000s, Joker and The Penguin have been major wins for the DC brand.
• DC Studios will continue to develop villain-centric films, with one set to follow Deathstroke and Bane.

Since the MCU began in 2008, DC has been trailing Marvel Studios in the shared universe department, but Warner Bros. beat the studio to the punch in terms of producing a successful villain film. After Sony found success with Venom, Warner Bros. moved forward with a Joker film that saw Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix develop a new origin story for the character. While the reaction wasn't overwhelmingly positive, the film still found much success, grossing over a billion dollars and winning several Academy Awards.

While Joker's sequel faces much criticism, HBO's The Penguin series, set in Matt Reeves' The Batman Epic Crime Saga, has earned strong ratings and positive reviews. James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is another prime example of one of the high points of the DCEU. DC has proved that villain-oriented stories can work, and you don't have to turn them into anti-heroes to make it happen, as Sony has with the Venom and Morbius films.

The MCU Solved Its Villain Problem Long Ago

• After starting with mixed results early in the franchise, the MCU is now full of incredibly strong villains.
• Doctor Doom is set to become the next major villain the MCU will bring into the fold.

Marvel Studios has put out numerous projects across film and television. Part of what has made Marvel Studios successful and able to reach its peak success with Phase Three relates to how it handled common criticisms. One common complaint early on was that Marvel Studios failed to deliver when it came to the villains. While there were standouts like Loki, others like Whiplash, Ronan the Accuser, and Malekith proved the point that the MCU's villains weren't as strong as its heroes.

Marvel Studios would eventually change that narrative when it introduced villains like Vulture, Killmonger, Ultron, Ego, and others. Of course, Marvel Studios also knocked it out of the park after its long tease of Thanos, who would become one of the greatest villains in film history. The studio accomplished this by giving its villains the same level of care as its heroes by going in-depth with their motivations to make them feel like multidimensional characters. Thanos' drive to balance the universe is one of the strongest examples of this. Since Marvel Studios solved its villain woes long ago, it shows it is more than capable of producing a satisfying project that can be the entire focus on these types of characters.

Marvel Studios Has Yet To Make a True Villain Film

• Avengers: Infinity War largely focused on Thanos, but the film still features many other heroes and storylines.
• The major focus on Thanos in the film made him as compelling and terrifying as he is, and Marvel Studios might take the same approach as Doctor Doom in the next Avengers film.

Marvel Studios has made so many projects set in different genres, mediums, and periods to make them distinct. Yet, it's still surprising to think that the studio has to make a true villain film like Joker. Marvel Studios is putting out Thunderbolts* next year, but that team is a mix of both villains and anti-heroes from the franchise and isn't on the level of what a villain film could be. While Loki has been a villain in several Marvel Studios films, in his series, he was more of an anti-hero as well and would go on to earn a strong redemption arc. WandaVision explores Wanda Maximoff's descent into the Scarlet Witch, but that's another character who has been portrayed in both lights.

Agatha All Along might be Marvel Studios' closest attempt at focusing on a true villain, yet that series still has a few more episodes to go, and she isn't as villainous in her solo series as she was in WandaVision so far. While many comic book characters are complex and aren't always clearly evil, it's still a path none of the MCU's projects have leaned into completely. As Marvel Studios looks for more ways to keep its franchise going, tapping into what Sony has failed to do with villain solo projects has lots of potential.

There Are Many Marvel Villains To Choose From

Like DC, Marvel Studios has no shortage of characters that can still take to live-action and have as many villains to tell stories about as it does with its heroes. Marvel Studios now has the rich tapestry of the X-Men franchise to pull from and will introduce Doctor Doom soon. Back when Fox still held onto the X-Men rights, the studio was developing a Doctor Doom filmfrom Fargo and Legion's Noah Hawley. While that project never saw the light of day, that's a concept Marvel Studios should revisit because there's so much potential.

"The mandate is not to re-launch the Fantastic Four franchise as much as it is to take this fascinating and under-served character and really build a movie about him where we ask the question: Is he a hero? Is he a villain? What does he really want? We're able to explore these questions in a serious way." -- Noah Hawley on his Doctor Doom film in 2018.

There are many other rich characters Marvel Studios can pull aside for a solo film like Apocolypse or Norman Osborn if Sony ever allows it. For years, Marvel has been putting out solo villain titles in the comics and has been able to tell strong stories as a result. Marvel Studios doesn't shy away from pulling ideas or concepts from the comics and it's about time it starts to do this in live-action. Unlike Sony, Marvel Studios can still connect its villains to other heroes and characters in the larger universe, an aspect severely missing in those films.

Marvel Studios continues to find new ways to reinvent itself and push what a comic book movie or show can be, and it's necessary to keep the franchise fresh for audiences. The MCU has also been successful at taking characters done poorly by other studios or ideas like a team-up and making it work. Sony has been trying to create a shared Marvel universe of its own with the characters associated with Spider-Man it has the rights to. Compared to what DC has been able to accomplish with The Penguin, it's clear Sony keeps failing at doing the concept justice.

Marvel Studios can once again succeed where other studios have failed by finally making a film focused entirely on a villain. The studio has often proven that it can make the villain a compelling part of the story. While Joker: Folie à Deux looks to be a failure for the genre, there's still a lot of potential in telling villain stories like The Penguin in the MCU, and DC Studios will continue the trend with a Deathstroke and Bane film, so it's only a matter of time before Marvel Studios joins in on the fun.

MCU

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, heroes like Iron Man, Captain America, and Captain Marvel battle threats to the Earth and to the universe.

First Film

Iron Man

Latest Film

The Marvels

Upcoming Films

Marvels , , Captain America: Brave New World , Thunderbolts*

First TV Show

WandaVision

Latest TV Show

Echo

Upcoming TV Shows

Daredevil: Born Again

Cast

Chris Evans , Robert Downey Jr. , Tom Holland , Paul Rudd , Chris Hemsworth , Mark Ruffalo , Jeremy Renner , Scarlett Johansson