As a fan of the lastest Spider-Man reboot, it really possible for Marvel to pull off a Sinister Six movie? Or for any superhero movie to attempt a gauntlet of supervillains storyline (ala Hush, Long Halloween)? Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 felt crowded with three supervillains (though Batman Returns handled two supervillains and one corporate jerk well enough)

Yes, with caveats. 

What makes movies feel “crowded” or “overstuffed” with villains is that filmmakers have felt the need to treat all of the villains equally when it comes to screentime (especially since they’re often introducing them in the same movie that they’re using them)  – if instead of that, you’re using already extant villains and make them part of the whole story instead of their own stories, it’ll go much smoother. To give an example, Spiderman: Homecoming featured… 

(cut for spoilers)

the Vulture, the Tinkerer, two Shockers, the Prowler, and Scorpion. But it didn’t feel crowded or overstuffed because the film didn’t feel the need to make all of their villains equal in screentime, or give them all backstories and arcs. Rather, Vulture was the main villain and everyone else was part of his story as either a henchman or a customer. Very quick little bits explained that the first Shocker was a flaky hothead and the second was more cautious and loyal, that the Tinkerer was a quippy nerd, that the Scorpion was a psycho that no one liked, and that the Prowler was laid back and only tangentially in the game.

Moreover, in future movies, we’re not going to need a full backstory to explain why the second Shocker or the Scorpion want revenge against Peter Parker or who the guy making the bad guy’s tech is. The previous movie does the setup for us in the same way that Cap: Civil War did the setup for Parker so that Homecoming didn’t have to explain how he became Spiderman besides a quick joke about the spider being dead. 

So that’s how I’d do a Sinister SIx or an Acts of Vengeance – rather than giving everyone equal weight and doing backstories and arcs for each villain, you put the focus on the ensemble, and trust in the setup you’ve done in previous movies to do a lot of the work for you so that you can maintain pacing. 

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