Ever since announcing its intention to make a solo Venom movie, the folks at Sony have maintained that their Spider-Man spin-off would not feature Spider-Man. No small amount of confusing language has been used in making that point, with Marvel's Kevin Feige insisting that Venom would not be part of the MCU and Sony's Amy Pascal saying the reality presented in Venom would take place in the same world established in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
What's the truth? We're still not clear, but Jon Schnepp - on a recent episode of Collider's Movie Talk - claims to have a little insight into how connected these films really are. Says Schnepp:
"Spider-Man is going to be in Venom. For the last couple of months, we’ve been hearing how Sony is keeping it all separated, and Spider-Man is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but every other character that’s in the Spider-Man universe is separate. All I’m saying is that Spider-Man — and I’m talking about Tom Holland’s Spider-Man — is going to be in Venom.”
To put it lightly, this would be a surprising move, and raises all kinds of questions. For instance: would Holland's appearance be substantial enough to count towards however many Spider-Man movies he's already contracted for? Does Marvel really want their brand-new, squeaky-clean Spider-Man popping up in what sounds to be a dark, R-rated antihero tale? Does Venom even make sense as a movie without Spider-Man? Also, how strong is Jon Schnepp's track record when it comes to scooping big movies currently in development (as pointed out by The Playlist, it's not a flawless record)?
Lots to consider here, and almost nothing official to go on (or, rather, the official word is so confusing as to be rendered useless). Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime: what do you folks think? Can you see Holland's Spider-Man dropping in on Venom? Are you into that or nah? Sound off in the comments below.
Venom hits theaters on October 5th.