Fans Are Split Over Who Should Lead The Sinister Six Against Tom Holland's Spider-Man
With a simple "Hey everyone" at the end of the "Captain America: Civil War" trailer, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was changed forever. For many fans, Spider-Man's inclusion in the MCU marked one of the most exciting developments in the history of the franchise. From starring in his own standalone adventure in 2017 to saving theaters with one of the most ambitious multiverse crossovers in 2021, Tom Holland's acclaimed turn as the character effectively launched the already iconic webhead into a prolific renaissance of "Spider-Man" related projects seemingly around every corner.
Longtime Spidey fans also have questions about the long-promised inclusion of a particularly dastardly hexagon of villains. The Sinister Six, as the name implies, are a team of Spider-Man's six most notorious foes. In "The Amazing Spider-Man" comics, this team is originally composed of Doctor Octopus, Electro, the Sandman, Mysterio, the Vulture, and Kraven the Hunter, with various other Spidey baddies joining the mix throughout the years (via Fandom).
The closest we've ever got to seeing a cinematic version of this team was a failed attempt during Andrew Garfield's 2012-to-2014 run. However, with "Spider-Man: No Way Home" bringing together so many beloved Spider-Man foes from previous films, fans have been pondering what a Sinister Six team-up might look like in the MCU and who might take charge of the team.
Redditors have some surprising choices for the leader of the Sinister Six
When Redditor u/Gillzter10 posed the question of who should lead the Sinister Six in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it got fans talking left and right. Classic Spidey fans such as u/GearZX and u/Arnoldbread wanted to respect tradition and go with Doctor Octopus, the latter saying, "I'm a traditionalist, so gotta go with Doc Ock. Ock has always been well done in every Spider-Man media; video game, cartoon, live action and so on." They later admitted that Alfred Molina may not want to reprise the role of Doc Ock, but noted that Mark Hamill could also be a good fit for the character.
Others such as u/Front-Seaweed4321 and u/GodzillaForever123 went down a similar path, arguing that future installments should see more involvement from the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and introduce Oscorp. On the other side of the discussion, u/JigsawMarx and u/Spidey_Martian103 admitted they want to see the return of Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin, following his appearance in the Disney+ series "Hawkeye."
Interestingly, the most unique choice from Redditors is not typically even a supervillain. Both u/Dweller_in_Basements and u/R520JR suggested that Daily Bugle host J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) take charge, with the latter writing, "JJJ should fund the Sinister Six to help take down Spidey not realizing they're evil." With such a large grab bag of baddies, one might wonder why the MCU hasn't tried this idea out already. Well, it turns out they almost did.
Writers considered introducing the Sinister Six in No Way Home
In an interview with The Wrap, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers talked about their development of the film, including some original ideas that were essentially left on the cutting room floor. According to the duo, the Sinister Six were a part of the discussion at one point in time. After briefly considering the use of Kraven the Hunter, the team began to throw around a plethora of different ideas, pulling inspiration from all possible corners of the source material.
McKenna said, "Kevin [Feige] goes, 'Remember that idea with all the villains ... That Sinister Six idea? Why don't we just do it in the movie, this movie be about that?'" While the official Sinister Six ultimately did not appear in the film, the discussion led the group to conceive of the plot that sees five "Spider-Man" villains from other universes enter the MCU and attack Tom Holland's character.
Unfortunately, outside of some offhand mentions and jokes, there hasn't been much more in terms of development on the concept. Will we ever see the Sinister Six make their full-on cinematic debut? While we don't have any official word on that yet, the continued success of Sony and Marvel's wall-crawling adventures makes it feel like it's only a matter of time.