Thread by @NebsGoodTakes

Making the case that the screenwriters of Sony's Spider-Man Universe films(Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter) have been taking storylines from DC Comics

More specifically, storylines from one esteemed comics writer, Gail Simone

Thread 🧵

Some background on Gail:

Gail Simone is an award-winning writer known mainly for her work in the comics industry such as Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Secret Six, Deadpool, Domino, Red Sonja, & more!

You may already know her as the woman who coined the term "fridging"

I first noticed something was strange when the trailer for 2024's upcoming 'Kraven the Hunter' released

The movie changed Kraven's backstory so he could fit better into the archetype of an antihero, which is also what they aimed for with Venom, and then ALSO Morbius

Kraven's new backstory for this film is that he was raised by an abusive father who believed he was was weak and forced his son to hunt big game, resulting in Kraven becoming an expert tracker who protects wildlife

This is, beat for beat, the backstory of Catman from DC Comics

Catman was created by Bill Finger and Jim Mooney in 1963, largely being considered a joke character

Gail Simone rebooted him in 2006, turning Thomas Blake into an expert tracker, wildlife protector, and rival to Batman, who joined a team of anti-heroes known as the Secret Six

Not only did I and other Secret Six fans immediately notice the similarities, but so did Gail Simone herself

Now you may want to point out the obvious, which is that these concepts/tropes weren't invented in a 2006 DC comic, and that's fair! But we'll get back to that later

Now here's where it gets deeper, with Sony's Madame Web having released this week

The film has already been widely mocked and fake plot points have been spread around because nobody actually watched it(me neither), so just to be clear, I'm pretty sure I'm not making this up!

Madame Web ends with Cassandra Webb blinded and wheelchair-bound like in the comics

However, she then begins to guide the three other Spider-Women as a team of vigilantes, using her psychic spider-powers to operate from her home with a nice circular window for a view of the city

So we have a disabled woman with abilities that allow her to provide limitless intel, leading a team of other vigilante women, in a base of operations with a cool circular window that allows a good view of the city

It's the Birds of Prey, from DC Comics

So, how does Gail Simone tie into that? Well that's a good question, since she didn't even create the Birds of Prey! The team was created by Chuck Dixon in 1996

However! Gail Simone arguably popularized the team with her run in the 2000s, which is held in VERY high regard

So those 2 cases are pretty blatant, right? But how are they connected? Because, in fairness, Kraven and Madame Web don't even share screenwriters

The final clue lies in the place you'd NEVER expect

El Muerto

In April 2022, Sony confused everyone by announcing an El Muerto movie, a Marvel character with a whopping 2 whole comic appearances

At this point, people justifiably believed that Sony was picking random Spider-Man characters out of a hat, BUT, what if there's more to it?

Let's apply the same perspective that we did for the previous 2 films and think, what DC stories and characters could they take aspects from for an El Muerto movie of all things?

Well, El Muerto is basically a massive luchador, and who does kinda that sound like to you?

Bane

Now, Bane is a pretty popular DC villain and is known for a lot of things, mainly breaking Batman's back, but here's something you might not know

In the mid 2000s Bane had a redemption arc of sorts, where he joined a team with other anti-heroes... the Secret Six, by Gail Simone

Okay, so these are just coincidences right? Bane being in the Secret Six doesn't mean anything

But remember! Sony's original goal with these Spider-Man villain spin-off movies was to eventually bring them all together, to form a team of anti-heroes, to form the...

Sinister Six

So, what happened here? Let me paint a clearer picture

Perhaps, some producers who have never read comics before were tasked with creating ideas for Sony's Spider-Man Anti-Villain Spin-Off Sinister Six Cinematic Universe, and were scrambling to find literally any ideas, at all!

If I were this hypothetical producer, I would jump to Google and search if there were any other villain teams to use for a basis

So, imagine my luck finding the Secret Six! An untapped team known by more hardcore DC fans, but still way less popular than Marvel's Sinister Six

Now imagine this hypothetical producer finding the Secret Six comics written by Gail Simone, really enjoying them, and taking some ideas for Kraven and El Muerto

Maybe this producer liked these comics so much that they'd seek out Gail's other renowned comics, like Birds of Prey!

I rest my case

credit of the discoveries of the el muerto and sinister six connections to @SuperMutantSam1