Dane DeHaan says it's 'pretty obvious' that Sony was moving towards 'Sinister Six' before Marvel deal

Dane DeHaan says he thinks it was “pretty obvious” that Sony would have made a Sinister Six movie if Spider-Man hadn’t become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The 34-year-old star portrayed the Green Goblin — Spider-Man’s arch nemesis — in the 2014 sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

He has now told Collider that he’s sure he would’ve had chance to play the character again, had Sony and Marvel not come to a deal over Spider-Man in February 2015.

Read more: Jared Harris denies Doc Ock rumours

That deal sent Sinister Six spiralling into development hell, where it still resides today.

DeHaan said: “I think it’s pretty obvious they were all setting up for like a Sinister Six kind of situation and there was certainly talk of doing all that before all the Disney, Marvel stuff happened.

“But I can’t tell you I know specifically what it was gonna be. I just know that there definitely would have been a Sinister Six element to it.

“And, you know, at least the Goblin, if not [alter ego] Harry Osborne would have been involved.”

Read more: Pictures from the set of Venom 2

Sony certainly appeared to be building towards Sinister Six at that time, introducing Paul Giamatti for a brief scene as Rhino and teasing various other villains in a credits sequence.

As recently as 2018, producer Amy Pascal told Vanity Fair she was just waiting for planned director Drew Goddard to be available and that the project could still move forward.

A new version of Sinister Six would presumably tie into the universe Sony is attempting to build with Spider-Man characters such as Venom and Morbius — independent of the webslinger himself.

Spider-Man, meanwhile, is firmly ensconced within the MCU, with both Sony and Disney reportedly keen to keep Tom Holland’s webslinger within that world for years to come.

Read more: Holland on saving Spidey’s MCU status

DeHaan is currently appearing alongside Maika Monroe in crime thriller The Stranger for new streaming service Quibi.

Monroe — best known for chilling horror It Follows — portrays a ride share driver who picks up DeHaan’s dangerous passenger.

Quibi debuted this week in the USA, with no UK date announced to date.