Earlier this week, it was reported that Kraven the Hunter would mark the end of "Sony's Spider-Man Universe." Variety has now chimed in, somewhat disputing that claim.

According to the trade, there technically never was any sort of shared "universe" for these characters. Both Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter were billed as "standalone" stories but only after Morbius - clearly set in the same world as Venom - bombed.

Acknowledging that Sony now intends to focus on its Spider-Man projects, it's apparent these spin-off movies are being put on ice.

"The looming box office failure [of Kraven the Hunter] almost certainly signifies the end of this endeavour at the studio," the report explains, "which one knowledgeable insider at Sony imputed to an industry-wide 'irrational exuberance about superheroes' that has ultimately led to the overall diminishment of the genre’s primacy as the leading force at the box office."

While...