Kraven Was a Bust, But One Spider-Man Villain Is Begging to Get Their Own Movie

Spider-Manhas some of the greatest villains in comic books, which has resulted in Sony, who currently owns the movie rights, trying to release as many villain-centric movies as possible. While Sony has seen some success with the Venom movies, it hasn't found the next big villain, despite the fact that one villain has been begging for a movie adaptation.

The Venom franchise has been a major success for Sony, seemingly giving Sony the false impression that people want movies about Spider-Man villains without Spider-Man involved. The Venom movies were successful due to the fact Venom has been his own character for decades.

Sony has tried to branch out with other villains. The company has been trying to get a Sinister Six movie off the ground for several years and put out both Morbius and Kraven, but both movies ended up being massive box-office bombs. There seems to be a very clear reason these movies are failing - and one villain that might just be the unexpected solution.

Nicholas Powell Is the Spider-Man Villain That Sony Needs

A Character with an Actually Interesting Catch

Sony has tried so many different villain movies, but outside of Venom, none of them have stuck the landing. The core reason for these failures is that none of these characters really work without Spider-Man. Kraven the Hunter needs something to hunt. Sony tried to fix this issue by sending him after poachers and bad people, but he was always more interesting when he was hunting heroes, such as Spider-Man or Black Cat. Likewise, Morbius is like many Spider-Man villains: a character who was turned into a monster due to a science experiment, which specifically contrasts with Spider-Man.

Without Spider-Man, the villains simply don't work on a coneptual level. It's even been argued that the Venom movies, which were financial successes, still suffered from not having Spider-Man appear in them. But Nicholas Powell wouldn't have that issue. Unlike most villains that Peter has gone up against, there's nothing about Chance that mirrors Spider-Man or his history. That Chance even became a villain was totally unrelated to Spider-Man's existence, meaning that he's a character who could perfectly work divorced from his original source material.

Nicholas Powell Has the Perfect Gimmick for a Spider-Man Movie

He Needs a "Chance" on the Big Screen

Nicholas Powell started off as a person with a debilitating gambling addiction. It got to the point that gambling money simply wasn't enough for him anymore, and he instead decided to up the ante by gambling with his life. Nicholas took on the super-villain name of Chance, and he would do any job for a price. But the unique thing about him was that he would bet his payment against his employer. If he failed to murder someone, he'd pay them ten thousand dollars, but if he succeeded, he walked away with all the money.

This gimmick made Chance completely unique among the majority of hitmen and thieves in the Marvel Universe. There really wasn't much to lose by hiring Chance. If he failed, then the person who hired him would get free money to offset them not getting what they wanted. If Chance succeeded, then he got paid, and the person who hired him still got what they wanted. It was an incredibly clever system to ensure that Chance would continually get a job as a villain, and considering that he's still active in comics to this day, it certainly works.

That's the reason that Chance could work in a movie, while all the other villain movies Sony has tried have mostly failed. Chance completely works as a stand-alone character. He's been a villain for Spider-Man, Venom, Hawkeye, and even Deadpool, because he isn't specifically tied to Spider-Man alone. It would be an incredibly easy choice to make a movie about Chance that stands on its own, because the character has already proven that he can. It's not like Sony is averse to taking chances on unknown villains as well, considering they tried to make a movie out of El Muerto, a villain no one has heard of.

Chance Could Easily Carry His Own Spider-Man Universe Movie

His Gimmick Makes Him Remarkably Versatile

Marvel has tried to find success by experimenting with different genres for its movies. While they're all superhero films, there's no denying that a movie like Captain America: The Winter Soldier is much more a spy thriller than something like Spider-Man: Homecoming, which as the trappings of a coming-of-age YA movie. Marvel has also experimented with heist films, like Ant-Man - which is something that Sony could learn from. Instead of just pumping out the same "movie with a villain protagonist" over and over again, Sony could try a different genre with Chance.

Having him be a hitman who has to kill a target or else he forfeits his own life perfectly lines up with his gambling addiction. He could also be hired to steal something, which gives Sony the perfect option to do its own heist movie. There are many different options that Sony could do with this character, since he's not restricted to having to find a story that works without Spider-Man. Chance can do a variety of crimes without ever having to mention the webhead that so many other characters are bound to.

If Sony Insists on Doing These Villain Movies, Chance Could Work

The Movie Just Needs to Be Creative with Him

Superhero films are still making tons of money. There's plenty of demand for characters in fantastical suits with amazing powers, but the premise has to be interesting. Just pumping out the same movies over and over is going to bring about diminishing returns. The Venom movies worked because Venom himself is a very popular character.Morbius and Kraven failed because those characters' gimmicks don't stand up well enough without Spider-Man to play off of. But there are tons of villains who can work without Spider-Man, and Chance is one of them.

Sony has to get more inventive with its available Spider-Man characters. Taking a Spider-Man villain and removing them from Spider-Man's lore and context is just about always going to be a recipe for failure. If Sony insists on continuing down this villain-focused path, the company has to come up with unique ideas and adapt villains who can support those ideas. While Green Goblin is a fantastic villain, he doesn't work separately from Spider-Man, which is why Sony truly needs to take a chance on Nicholas Powell for its next big movie.

Spider-Man

Created By

Stan Lee, Steve Ditko

First Appearance

Amazing Fantasy

Alias

Peter Parker, Ben Reilly, Otto Octavius, Yu Komori, Kaine Parker, Pavitr Prabhakar, William Braddock, Miles Morales, Kurt Wagner

Alliance

Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Secret Defenders, Future Foundation, Heroes for Hire, Mighty Avengers, New Avengers, Web-Warriors

Spider-Man is the name given to several individuals who have employed a spider-moniker throughout Marvel Comics. Typically gaining their powers through a bite from a radioactive spider, the different Spider-Man heroes employ super-strength, agility, and intellect while utilizing webbing to swing and tangle up their foes. The most notable of these Spider-Men is Peter Parker, who remains one of the most popular superheroes throughout the world.

Race

Human

Franchise

Marvel, Spider-Man

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