If you’re a fan of the MCU, Sony allowing the House of Ideas to use Spider-Man in their films was a major cause for celebration. Spidey is such a crucial part of the Marvel Universe that his absence was sorely felt, not to mention that Tom Holland instantly made the part his own in Captain America: Civil War. Now, with Spider-Man: Homecoming imminent (check out the amazing new trailer here) and a Venom movie being planned, you might expect that this iconic Spider-Man villain would be a natural fit for the MCU.
Well, you’d be wrong. Homecoming director Jon Watts was interviewed by Fandango recently and they asked whether Sony’s Venom movie would be connected to his upcoming reboot, and here’s what he said.
It’s not. It’s not connected to the Marvel world, so that’s really intriguing… what that will be. I don’t know anything about it. It’s not connected, so there’s not that overlap. I’m only focused on my movie right now.
This is a pretty weird decision by Sony. The character of Venom is inextricable from Spider-Man, and keeping him separated from the MCU version of the hero leaves them two pretty unappetizing options. The best would be to simply allude to an off-screen Spidey without ever showing him on screen, and the second is to rewrite the character’s origin in a way that excludes him completely. But at that point, why are you even making a Venom movie?
Either way, it leaves Venom in a curious position – a film about a supervillain that won’t be able to feature his nemesis. Hmm, we don’t have to look too far back in time to see how that can go….