Months before the release of its third Spider-Man franchise, Sony has dated a Venom film for 2018. The initial reports suggest the film won’t have ties to the new Spider-Man, however, who, because of a unique deal between Sony and Marvel, is part of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. This would set Venom off as its own franchise, running concurrently with but unrelated to any of the events of the upcoming Spider-Man movies.
However, very few concrete details about the movie are actually known at this point. The full picture of what this Venom film could be becomes particularly muddied when considering that a Venom spinoff of The Amazing Spider-Man series had been in the works prior to Sony and Marvel’s deal and the recasting of Peter Parker. And before that, Spider-Man 3 introduced Venom to the original cinematic webhead’s world. This current iteration of a planned Venom spinoff was revived early last year.
So, taking into consideration the reported details, just what could this Venom movie be and despite the initial reports, could Spider-Man appear in the films? Here are four possibilities.
Assuming that all the reported details that came as part of Venom's release date announcement are true, then this Venom film will be its own standalone film and start of a separate franchise completely disconnected from Tom Holland's Spider-Man series. Sony would then have to pick and choose which characters in the larger Spider-Man canon for which it has the cinematic rights to would be used in Venom films versus Spider-Man movies. Characters like Carnage and Scream would be obvious inclusions in the Venom franchise. And some villains associated with both, like Jack O’Lantern and Crime Master, could also be siloed off in this franchise.
In this case, Venom would never cross over with Spider-Man and presumably major characters used in one would not be duplicated in another. (Though, of course, we have seen two on-screen versions of Quicksilver appear in film within a year of each other via X-Men: Days of Future Past and Avengers: Age of Ultron, so there is precedence. But this might cause more confusion than it's worth if the two are never meant to be connected.) If successful, Sony then has its own superhero franchise to create, but if it fails, then Sony can keep Spider-Man afloat without worrying about this bet on a Venom film tarnishing the webhead.
This commercially is likely too complicated to pull off, but theoretically, Sony could slip Venom into one of its existing Spider-Man universes, as the studio has produced two previous Spiderverses. Especially considering Venom spinoff plans were picking up steam during The Amazing Spider-Man’s time in theaters, Venom could conceivably be shoehorned into that universe, giving Sony a chance to integrate a Spider-Man into the world of Venom.
The cost of confusing audiences (and straining its deal with Marvel) and effectively communicating this idea to potential moviegoers, however, makes this an unlikely, though technically possible, move for Sony.
Venom may premiere as its own standalone thing. But if Sony wants to hedge its bets and leave the door open for potential integration, small winks and nods to the existing universe of Spider-Man, specifically Tom Holland’s iteration, could be peppered throughout the film.
If a connection never forms, Sony can still keep Venom as a separate superhero franchise. But by going this route, Sony gets to have the best of both worlds, as in success Sony has either a hit potential franchise of its own or find a way to smoothly transition Venom into the larger Spider-Man, and MCU, collective.
Venom has an October 2018 release, with no director or stars currently attached, only writers and producers of previous Spider-Man films. In the time between this announcement and the film’s production, let alone its release, it’s not unfathomable that a deal could be struck to integrate Venom into the universe of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and thus the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Holland or other actors from Spider-Man: Homecoming could appear via an extension of Sony and Marvel’s deal, allowing Venom to also theoretically appear in other MCU films.
Again, very few confirmed details are known about what the Venom movie will be and, legally, can be. Knowing what has been made public about Sony's deals, and putting aside the unconfirmed reports that the film will stand on its own, these seem like the most likely possibilities for how the Venom movie could exist in the larger superhero landscape when it releases in 2018. Deals and discussions at studios could be ongoing that will never be publicly disclosed, but there is certainly precedent for Sony to both try its own take on building a superhero franchise while also being willing to partner with another studio.
Stay tuned to IGN for more coverage on Venom, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Jonathon Dornbush is an Associate Editor for IGN. He still thinks about the Spider-Man 2 video game at least twice a week. Find him on Twitter @jmdornbush.
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