Spider-Man villains may appear more in the MCU now that Sony's spin-off universe is finished.

In 2014, Sony planned to start its own cinematic universe by filling the webslinger's iconic rogues gallery with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and laying out the breadcrumbs for a Sinister Six film. However, with Andrew Garfield's second outing proving to be an even bigger disaster than Spider-Man 3, these plans were pushed to the wayside in favor of another reboot, in partnership with the MCU.

Tom Holland's turn as the Wallcrawler would prove to be a phenomenal success, earning billions at the box office. Yet, behind the scenes, the allure of villain spin-offs called Sony like the Green Goblin mask to Norman Osborn: before long, it would greenlight the first Venom film, marking the start of 'SUMC'.

While every single entry so far has been a critical flop, Morbius was such a train wreck that fans collectively gassed Sony to re-release the film, only to have no one show up. It was an embarrassing few years, to say the least, with SUMC averaging a critical score of 28.5 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. But it may end eventually.

According to reputed leaker Daniel Richman, Sony is now “more open” to sharing its Spider-Man characters with Marvel Studios after canceling the Olivia Wilde-helmed Spider-Woman film. It follows the cancellation of El Murto and the end of the Venom trilogy, while Hypno-Hustler, Nightwatch, Jackpot, and Silver and Black Radio remain AWOL after years of silence.

Given the disastrous box office performance of the non-Venom films this isn't surprising, with Kraven only pulling in $62 million on a $110 million budget, while Sony's collaborations with the MCU are almost certain to be box office hits. Even in Marvel Studios' post-Endgame slump, the anticipation bubbling around Brand New Day is palpable, with behind-the-scenes footage alone going viral as everyone waits in anticipation for the Wallcrawler to finally cross paths with the Punisher in a street-level throwdown.

Spider-Verse is separate from the confusing universe of Spider-Man villains without Sony's Spider-Man, and so the Spider-Noir series is still moving forward.

However, what's particularly exciting about this report is that if Sony is really willing to play ball, we could see Spider-Man characters appear in other movies away from the webslinger. Many of his villains have history with other heroes, after all. For a rough idea of what it might look like, Ryan Coogler wanted to base the first Black Panther film on Christopher Priest's comics, which featured a fight between T'Challa and Kraven the Hunter. Soni refused. Now, if a director were to make such a request, perhaps Sony would be more willing.

Marvel has a wealth of history to tap into; Norman Osborn as the Iron Patriot in the new Avengers roster, Null and his army of symbiote dragons as another Avengers-level threat, Hulk and Rhino Smackdown for the ages, Hammerhead, Tombstone, and The Rose add some much-needed characters to crime saga Luil Daredevil's roster.

Time will tell if DanielRPK's report is to be believed, but between Spider-Woman's reported cancellation and declining box office returns, it's hard to imagine there being much enthusiasm behind SUMC.