Next year will see the Sony Pictures’ Universe of Marvel Characters really fly with three films on the way in the form of “Madame Web,” “Kraven the Hunter” and “Venom 3”.
It finally sees the fruition of a dream Sony has had for over a decade to really build out its collection of Marvel characters – plans that heavily began with 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” which led to them considering both a “Venom” movie (which did get made) and a “Sinister Six” film (which didn’t).
2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” certainly sets up a tease for a Sinister Six film with a credits sequence indicating Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Kraven and the Vulture would join that film’s secondary villains Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan), and Rhino (Paul Giamatti).
In a recent interview with Happy Sad Confused podcast, Giamatti revealed that Sony never approached him about reprising his role as Russian gangster Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino following his brief appearance at the end of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”. Asked if he ever was in talks for Sinister Six, he says:
“No idea. No. They never talked to me about any of that stuff. Not that I remember.”
He also wasn’t one of the villains that returned for the more recent “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” though he was referenced by Andrew Garfield’s character as a “Russian guy in a rhinoceros machine”. Speaking of that, Giamatti says:
“I have to admit, I have not followed all the Spider-Man movies. I shouldn’t be admitting this, but I haven’t followed it.
No, I think in the first place, the Rhino is a tricky one. Because if you really go Rhino, he’s wearing the Rhino suit with the horn and everything. I mean, hilarious. I kind of thought, ‘Are you going to do that? Am I going to look like a rhino with my face cut out?’
They didn’t do that, they went with the mechanical thing. But the Rhino might be a tricky one in the first place, I think.”
Giamatti did reveal he was doing a four-week run of “Hamlet” at Yale right before going to play Rhino, but loved the contrast of roles: “To me, it doesn’t get any better than to be able to do things the complete polar opposites of each other. If that’s happening, I’m happy as a clam.”
Plans for “Sinister Six” were scuttled when Sony and Disney reached an agreement that saw Spider-Man rebooted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
That said, Rhino will be making a comeback with Alessandro Nivola taking on the role in the “Kraven the Hunter” film.
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