Spider-Man and television seem like a match made in heaven as of late. Prime Video recently greenlitNoir, which seesNicholas Cagereprising his role as Spider-Man Noir, and Disney+ hasYour Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manwaiting in the wings. There have even been calls for a revival ofSpider-Man: The Animated Seriesfollowing the success ofX-Men ‘97(and that series hintingat whereSpider-Man: The Animated Seriesleft off). But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing in the Spider-Verse, as Prime Video recently shelvedSilk: Spider Society. This cancelation points toa few issues surrounding Spider-Man-themed media.
‘Silk’ Was in Turmoil Behind the Scenes
Deadline initiallyran the news thatSilk: Spider Societyhad been canceledwhile also tracking its development history, which includeda number of creative overhauls.Lauren Moonwas initially hired to develop the project in 2019, which wasmeant to serve as the launching pointfor a fleet of Spider-Man-based shows by Prime Video. Further sweetening the pot was the fact that this had spun out of a deal between Sony Pictures Television,Phil Lord, andChris Miller, who’d given the Spider-Man franchise a jolt of life withSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Eventually,Tom Spezialy(Watchmen, The Leftovers)andAngela Kang(The Walking Dead)were brought on as showrunners, with the show then receiving its official title and a new home at MGM+.Add in some promising words from all involved, and it looked likeSilk: Spider-Societywas on its way to launching another wave of Spider-Verse stories.
Two factors eventually ended up impactingSilk: Spider-Society’s road to the small screen. The first was the delay in reopening the writers’ room after the Writers' Guild of America had concluded its strike last year; the WGA was on the brink of conducting legal action whenAmazon finally opened the doors this January. The second is the most baffling, as Kang and the writers were reportedlyasked to reconfigure the series so that it focused less heavily on Silk. This points to a problem that’s plagued Sony for years: its handling of theSpider-Manfranchise.
The ‘Silk’ Cancellation Points To Greater Struggles With the Spider-Man Franchise
Ever sinceSam Raimiwrapped up hisSpider-Mantrilogy,Sony has struggled with keeping the Spider-Man franchise viable. The first major roadblock was the attempt to useMarc WebbandAndrew Garfield’sAmazing Spider-Manfilms as the launching pad for a cinematic universe. Back then, studios were still chasing the allure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and with over 900 characters under its belt, Sony swung for the fences with plans to releasea Spider-Man-based film every year. However, the reception ofThe Amazing Spider-Man 2and an internal leak at Sony eventually led to a partnership with Marvel Studios, whereTom Hollandpicked up Spidey’s mask.
Still, Sony once again attempted tolaunch more Spider-Man-adjacent filmswith the success ofVenom, butMorbiusandMadame Webhave been met with less than stellar box office results as well as outright scorn from critics and fans. In contrast, the Spider-Verse films have been warmly received — especially the wide range of characters who appear in both films, like Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk and Gwen Stacy. The lesson is clear:fans want more Spider-Man in their Spider-Man stories.
Silk Can Carry Her Own TV Show
The reworking ofSilk: Spider-Societyto focus less on Silk disregards a decade’s worth of stories to pull from. Even her origin flies in the face of that decision. Cindy Moon was an average teenager who wound up being bitten by a radioactive spider,with that same spider being the onewho transformed Peter Parker into Spider-Man. Cindy was then approached by Ezekiel Sims, who also possessed arachnid-like abilities; he warned her that a vampiric being known as Morlun would want to hunt her down and consume her life force. Cindy reluctantly sealed herself off in a bunker, and ten years afterward, Spider-Man freed her. Deciding to be a superheroine in her own right, Cindy took up the name Silk while also searching for her long-lost family.
This origin is compelling enough on its own, but there’s also the added wrinkle of the subtitle. The “Spider Society” first appeared inSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and was assembled by Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, to repair any fractures in the multiverse. Using the Spider Society as a backdropwould have addressed Cindy’s struggles with family and connection;not only could she have found a new family with members of the Spider Society, but it would have let different Spider-Men take the spotlight, similar to howMiles Moralesis the protagonist of the Spider-Verse movies. Sidelining her betrays a massive lack of vision.
‘Silk: Spider-Society’ Was Canceled at the Wrong Time
The most damning part ofSilk: Spider-Societybeing canceled is the optics. Not only does it raise eyebrows that the project featuring a Korean-American superheroine was shelved while another Peter Parker-centric story went forward, but it also happened to fall duringAsian-American/Pacific Islander Appreciation Month.The timing couldn’t have been worse, especially as Silk is the most prominent Asian-American character within the Spider-Man mythos. As if that wasn’t enough, a rumor around the internet before the cancelation suggested thatAmazon wanted a project that was more “male-skewing,“which in and of itself is a shame.
Despite Amazon pulling the plug,there’s still hope forSilk: Spider-Society. The series is being shopped around to potential buyers, which means it could find life on a new streamer - ironically, a similar fate befellBatman: Caped Crusaderwhen it moved from Max to Prime Video. Cindy Moon also appeared at the end ofMarvel’s Spider-Man 2, and aSpider-Societycomicis in the works, which means that more Silk stories could be on the way.
