Sony and Marvel really need to get on the same page about their plans for Venom. Ever since their landmark deal to allow Peter Parker to enter the MCU, the exact specifics of what exactly that would involve have been hazy at best, with each studio refusing to clarify it. At this point, it seems like they don’t even know themselves what’s really going on, and it’s led to a whole lot of confusion amongst fans.
We know that Spider-Man is being lent to Marvel for them to use him in the MCU, which we’ve already seen in Captain America: Civil War and will see again next month with his own solo outing, but beyond that, we’re unsure of what the plan is. We imagine he’ll show up in Avengers: Infinity War as well, and if Tom Holland is to be believed, then we’ll get two sequels to Homecoming too, but nothing’s really been confirmed just yet. What’s perhaps even more confusing though is what’s going on with Venom.
Sony’s gearing up to get a project off the ground featuring the character, with Tom Hardy taking the lead role, but we’ve heard numerous times now, from numerous people, that Venom is going to be placed in a separate cinematic universe, one that the studio’s also going to throw Black Cat and Silver Sable into. And that’s just the start. From what we understand, Sony is looking to build their own Marvel universe populated by numerous Spider-Man characters. Sounds great, right? Sure, aside from the fact that Spider-Man himself won’t be involved. That’s because this cinematic universe is separate from the MCU. Or is it?
Last weekend, Sony head honcho Amy Pascal sent the internet into a frenzy when she unexpectedly revealed that Venom exists within the same universe as Spidey. Understandably, this caused even more confusion in what was already a very unclear situation. It’s been a week of heavy speculation then, with numerous theories and rumors doing the rounds as to how the antihero may be incorporated into the MCU, but earlier today, Marvel’s Kevin Feige decided to set the record straight.
Speaking with JoBlo at the press junket for Homecoming, the producer was asked if Sony’s characters, like Venom, will be popping up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and here’s what Feige said:
Right now, Spidey is in the MCU and it’s just Spidey. Civil War, Homecoming, we’ve already shot a lot of Tom Holland’s scenes in the upcoming Avengers films, and we’re just starting to solidify our plans for Homecoming 2 – we won’t call it that, whatever it is – which is exciting because it’ll be the first MCU movie after untitled Avengers in 2019. It’ll be the way Civil War informed everything in Homecoming, those movies will launch him off into a very new cinematic universe at that point. Those five movies are we’re focusing on.
So, once again we’re getting conflicting reports. True, Feige prefacing his comment with “right now” could indicate that there’s plans to introduce Venom down the road, but it definitely doesn’t sound like there’s any kind of connection between Sony and Marvel’s cinematic universes at the moment, despite what Pascal said last week. It also doesn’t sound like the latter is that interested in bringing Sony’s characters into the MCU, as the focus right now seems to be solely on Spider-Man himself, which makes sense.
Unfortunately, it’ll probably be some time before we find out for sure whether Venom’s going to end up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as we don’t expect Homecoming to bring us anything on the matter and the two studios seem to be on completely different pages. At the very least though, it’s reassuring to know that a crossover isn’t being ruled out by either party and if we had to guess, the two universes will ultimately end up being connected. It may not be in a significant way or exactly how fans want to see it done, but let’s face it, you simply can’t have Venom without Spider-Man. It just doesn’t work.