There is just no end to the Spider-Man franchise rumors. Yesterday, we reported that Sony might be willing to let Marvel use the character in attempts to reestablish him as the lucrative franchise character he was while Sam Raimi was directing. While it is a long shot, it is definitely a move that would benefit both houses, but also should be a huge service to fans.

Now comes a new rumor that Sony is rebooting the franchise yet again, but that it will be a “soft reboot.” There are also murmurings of the Alex Kurtzman-directed Venom being cancelled. Hit the jump to learn more.

The report comes to us from over at Badass Digest. The idea is to shelve the character momentarily, and use the upcoming Sinister Six film as a soft reboot.

One way for Sony to reboot the character is to have him be reintroduced in the ensemble villain film. This way, no matter who plays him — remember, Andrew Garfield didn’t have much confidence that he would have a role in Sinister Six — you can reboot the character. But Sony seems to be sticking with the Spider-Man universe, and will put him on the shelf so that they can build the webslinger’s supporting characters into the franchise.

According to the site, if they were to do the soft reboot, Spidey would actually work with the Sinister Six in a Dirty Dozen-esque film. I’m not sure if the studio is willing to make this move considering the reaction this reboot got when it was announced that a whole new Spider-Man franchise would start instead of Raimi making Spider-Man 4.

Now on to the possible cancellation of Venom. If true, it’s a bit strange to see that it has been cancelled “again,” considering all that Kurtzman has been saying in the past few weeks. Maybe the Venom they were planning just didn’t fit into the world, and they may be reworking it so that it can fit. But all of these plans are starting to make Sony look like they have no idea what to do with the character.

How much damage control does Sony have to do to get fans to believe in The Amazing Spider-Man franchise? While $709 million is nothing to scoff at, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the lowest earning installment of the two franchises, and this is with inflation and 3D ticket prices. Spider-Man 3 remains to be the franchises top earner with $890 million.

We have to wait and see what a Spider-Man film without Spider-Man looks like as well.

What do you think about the recent rumors? Is shelving Spider-Man a good move? Is a “soft reboot” something you would accept?

[Source: Badass Digest]