SPIDER-MAN: 10 Storylines Marvel Studios Still Needs To Adapt In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Sure, Spider-Man 3 appears to be a "Spider-Verse" adaptation, but which storylines should Marvel Studios adapt or borrow from beyond that? Here, we take a look at some of the most compelling possibilities.

By JoshWilding - Oct 31, 2020 06:10 AM EST

Filed Under: No Way Home

Right now, it's looking a lot like Spider-Man 3 will see Tom Holland's web-slinger swing into the Marvel Multiverse alongside Doctor Strange. That's certainly an unexpected approach to the threequel, but one which has fans seriously excited about what such a storyline could ultimately entail.

Regardless, whether it's in Spider-Man 3 or even further down the line, there are still plenty of storylines we would like to see Marvel bring to the big screen as their partnership with Sony continues.

There are tonnes of classic Spider-Man stories Kevin Feige and company can borrow from, and while there were hints of those in Homecoming and Far From Home, Marvel Studios still has a lot of material future stories can be inspired by. Having spent some time with the wall-crawler, we have some very exciting ideas about where Spidey can be taken next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

To take a look at the storylines we're keeping our fingers crossed for, hit the "Next" button below!

10. The Master Planner Saga

Marvel Studios has already plucked an iconic piece of imagery from "The Master Planner Saga," but there's so much here that would work in a future movie, it should definitely be considered.

A classic Stan Lee and Steve Ditko tale, the web-slinger first met Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn here, while his race to find a cure for his dying Aunt May ensured this made for tense reading. Doctor Octopus being revealed as the Master Planner was a nice twist, and borrowing some of the ideas on offer here to introduce that villain could be a smart move on Marvel Studios' part.

"Anyone can win a fight when the odds are easy! It's when the going's tough when there seems to be no chance, that's when it counts!" Spidey says at one point, emphasising his hero status.

9. Coming Home

J. Michael Straczynski's opening chapter in his Amazing Spider-Man run is definitely worthy of a big screen adaptation, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige even wrote a foreword for the TPB!

It introduced some mystical elements to Spider-Man’s powers (something which would definitely work following his team-up with Doctor Strange), a mysterious new mentor in the form of Ezekiel (who has all the same abilities as the wall-crawler), and the damn near unstoppable villain Morlun. Determined to consume Spidey’s essence, he pursued the hero through New York City in one of the character’s lengthiest and most brutal showdowns ever.

Marvel Studios basically adapted the final scene from this arc - Aunt May discovering her nephew is Spider-Man - so it wouldn't be overly suprising for them to return to "Coming Home" for inspiration.

8. The Six Arms Saga

This storyline from the early 1970s touched on a lot of very heavy subjects, including Harry Osborn’s drug addiction and the death of some of Spider-Man’s closest allies in the process.

Believing that he needs to hang up his webs for good, Peter creates a concoction he thinks will get rid of his powers, only to wake up the next day with six arms instead of two. Based on what happened at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the MCU's web-slinger making a similar decision wouldn't come as a huge surprise depending what happens in Spider-Man 3.

The storyline included the Lizard and Morbius, the Living Vampire, and if you throw in the uniqueness of seeing Spider-Man with six arms, this could be a blast to see play out on screen.

7. The Death Of Jean DeWolff

While Captain Stacy was included in both Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man, none of the previous movies have really explored the wall-crawler’s relationship with the NYPD. Giving Peter an ally on the force would be pretty interesting - even though he probably is a fugitive now - and that could one day lead to a big screen adaptation of "The Death of Jean DeWolff."

The comic played out very much like a murder mystery after Spidey discovered Jean had been killed, and making the hunt for this serial killer a subplot in a future Spider-Man movie definitely has a tonne of potential (Sin-Eater would also be a great, unexpected choice of villain for the MCU).

Her relationship with Spider-Man is a fascinating one worth exploring, too, especially as he discovered she had feelings for him following her murder. That may not be appropriate here considering the fact Peter is still a teenager, but seeing these two interact in a movie is definitely a must.

6. Superior Spider-Man

Look, most of Dan Slott's Amazing Spider-Man run sucked, but Superior Spider-Man was a pretty good idea on the surface, and it's something that could make for an entertaining subplot in a movie.

We certainly wouldn't want this villainous Spidey to become the status quo in the MCU, but a future clash with Doctor Octopus ending with the reveal that he's taken over Peter Parker's body could be a fun tease. However, we'd want to see Peter regain control before the halfway point of a sequel.

That could lead to one final clash with Doc Ock, not to mention some villains that leader of the Sinister Six could no doubt cross paths with while he's this shared world's so-called "superior" Spidey.

5. The Clone Saga

If you’re a fan of Spider-Man’s comic book adventures, chances are that you probably want to forget the "Clone Saga" ever existed. An admittedly convoluted mess, Marvel Studios and Sony would have to trim a lot of fat from this storyline for it to work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It was The Jackal – secretly Professor Miles Warren, one of Peter’s college tutors – who cloned the hero, and he’s a villain who has a lot of potential to be great on the big screen despite not being that well-known. Having the young Peter come face to face with another version of himself would be really interesting, too, and kicks open the door to a potential Scarlet Spider spinoff.

It's about time Peter move on from high school, so that's how Warren could come into play.

4. Legacy

Norman and Harry Osborn were a huge part of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but that doesn’t mean the Green Goblin should be left on the shelf.

While it would be great to see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker clashing with Norman (a villain with the potential to become a big bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe if handled the right way) suited up in his classic green and purple costume, the whole Goblin glider look has still been done to death, so taking things in a drastically different direction is required.

That’s where this Ultimate Spider-Man tale could come in. "Legacy" featured a Norman who transformed himself into a hulking beast capable of throwing flames from his hands and flying through the air, and pitting the young hero against such a terrifying adversary would definitely be different to what we’ve seen in past instalments.

3. The Scorpion

This one isn’t a storyline as such, but The Scorpion’s first appearance from way back in the 1960s could very easily be adapted in Spider-Man 3. Mac Gargan was a private eye hired by J. Jonah Jameson to discover the hero’s secret identity, but the newspaper publisher ultimately decided to fund an experiment to transform him into The Scorpion when that plan failed.

Unfortunately, Mac was driven mad in the process and ended up going after both Spider-Man and Jonah, something which forced Peter to save the guy who created one of his greatest foes.

The groundwork was laid for this at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, and with TheDailyBugle.net owner supposedly set to assemble the Spider-Slayers in the next movie, why not create Scorpion too?

2. Kraven's Last Hunt

Kraven the Hunter may not have the same flashy powers as some of Spider-Man’s other villains, but he’s someone that comic book fans are desperate to see on the big screen.

The villain arriving in New York City to hunt down the young vigilante actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it, especially now he's been framed as a killer by Mysterio.

Jumping straight into "Kraven's Last Hunt" may seem premature, so why not save that for the Kraven the Hunter movie that's in the works? Having him try to take the wall-crawler down - only to be humiliated in a throwaway battle - could be a smart way of setting the stage for a rematch in that solo outing.

1. Spider-Verse

"Spider-Verse" featured Peter Parker meeting almost countless alternate versions of himself when a group of near immortal vampire like beings started travelling through the Multiverse in a bid to kill every Spider-Man, ever. To do so, this ancient family of mystical beings basically fed on all those different versions of the hero, leading to an army of Spider-Men assembling to stop them.

Even if Spider-Man 3 is only going to tease the concept of the Web of Life and Destiny, then Marvel Studios could fully embrace the concept in a future movie with a full-blown "Spider-Verse" event.

This would be a blast (especially if it meant introducing a tonne of new versions of Spidey), and is arguably a logical next step after Peter Parker potentially meets his counterparts from the Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man franchises. If they return, then that would obviously be a bonus.

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32 Comments

GhostDog - 10/31/2020, 6:03 AM

RIP to a legend

99OPTIMISTPRIME - 10/31/2020, 6:50 AM

UXASIS - 10/31/2020, 6:56 AM

I'd love to see the Clone Saga.

Anyway, my list (what must happen):

1. A team-up with Wolverine
2. Wedding with MJ (not Michelle!!)
3. Villains: Black Cat, Jackal, Morlun and Spider-Slayers.

Origame - 10/31/2020, 8:02 AM

@DARKSIDEIS - id like the second, but lets face it. Michelle is the mcu mj. And everything about their approach is avoiding what the other movies did like the plague.

UXASIS - 10/31/2020, 8:31 AM

@Origame - I've heard some rumor that Holland has signed multiple trilogies, which should show Peter's various stages of life, e.g. University life, job life, etc.

I agree with you, that it would be strange if there were two MJ's in his life. Maybe he'd call the second one only Mary Watson, but that'd be strange.
Anyway not a big fan of Zendaya and I don't think they want to introduce Gwen, so the only solution is Black Cat (when Peter is an adult of course :D).

Origame - 10/31/2020, 8:53 AM

@DARKSIDEIS - black cat would be cool. Wonder if they'd be willing to since its close to catwoman (they did change jarvis due to his similarities to alfred).

heyy1 - 10/31/2020, 11:35 AM

@Origame - I've heard online (not sure about the source) is that the MCU spier-man characters are different from the comic book counterparts for legal reasons, in other words, sony won't be able to use the comic book version if marvel is using them in the MCU. And honestly I don't care much about changing MJ she was always just the "love intrest".

RancidBane - 10/31/2020, 7:30 AM

Id love to see Kraven's last hunt. He has always been my favorite Spider-Man villain. If I can't get that lets see Jackal.

marvel72 - 10/31/2020, 7:49 AM

Spider-verse
Venom
Carnage
Kravens Last Hunt
Sinister Six

MrDandy - 10/31/2020, 8:29 AM

I find your lack of sinister six disturbing

MrDandy - 10/31/2020, 8:30 AM

I’d say that Sinister Six, Last Hunt, and SpiderVerse are musts!

IKidYouNotMan - 10/31/2020, 2:36 PM

A lot of potential stories to adapt. You can knock out a few birds with one stone if you tie Jean DeWolff/Sin Eater story to the Maggia family storyline while having Symbiote Spider-man work with Daredevil. I think you’re pushing the PG-13 rating with this storyline as you would be adapting most of the storylines from the 70-80s era and I could never see them moving away from the massive supervillain spectacle that each of these Spider-Man films tend to be.

DarthLaney - 10/31/2020, 5:01 PM

Death of Jean DeWolff and the Return of the Sin Eater would be a fantastic way to go, but would take a lot of courage for either Marvel or Sony to green light. Not sure they have it in them. It would make a great tv series as well.

SummersEssex - 10/31/2020, 9:43 PM

These ideas are all terrible.

Only things they still need to do with Spidey, in this order:

Sinister Six
Venom face-off - get the Toms a-fighting’
Maximum Carnage - get the Toms a-workin’ together

Anything else they do is just extra.

Save Norman Osborn for Dark Avengers and a team-up with Doom.
No Clone Saga, no six arms, no spider-verse, no last hunt (but if Kraven’s not in the next one that’s an obvious mistake). Seriously, this list is awful.

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SPIDER-MAN: 10 Storylines Marvel Studios Still Needs To Adapt In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Sure, Spider-Man 3 appears to be a "Spider-Verse" adaptation, but which storylines should Marvel Studios adapt or borrow from beyond that? Here, we take a look at some of the most compelling possibilities.

10. The Master Planner Saga

9. Coming Home

8. The Six Arms Saga

7. The Death Of Jean DeWolff

6. Superior Spider-Man

5. The Clone Saga

4. Legacy

3. The Scorpion

2. Kraven's Last Hunt

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