Spider-Man seemingly confirmed to exist in Sony’s Marvel universe

After much speculation, it looks like Sony’s Marvel universe could indeed have a Spider-Man.

In 2015, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures joined forces to bring Spider-Man into the MCU. This was a monumental step for Sony, a company that just a year prior had intended to use The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as a springboard for a Peter Parker-centric cinematic universe. Still, having its wall-crawling crime-fighter make the jump to another franchise didn’t put a stop to Sony’s ambitious endeavors.

The studio quickly began putting together its very own superhero franchise separate from Marvel Studios’. In 2018, the franchise’s first installment, Venom, hit theaters. Through its massive financial success, the film validated Sony’s superhero slate, which so far includes Morbius, a Kraven the Hunter spinoff and films for both Black Cat and Silver Sable.

Given Venom‘s box office success and Eddie Brock’s future as the lead of Sony’s nascent universe, people began to wonder whether the antihero could ever come face to face with Spider-Man on screen. With Peter Parker swinging around in the MCU for the foreseeable future, some speculated that Eddie Brock could be integrated into the Marvel Studios franchise.

At the same time, others pondered the possibility of Sony’s universe having a Spider-Man of its own. Overall, knowing where everyone’s favorite web-head stood in terms of Sony’s upcoming franchise had been quite difficult – until now.

It Seems Spider-Man Is Actually Part Of The Venom-Verse

Hold on to your hats, because a fascinating piece of information points to the wall-crawler possibly popping up in the Venom-verse at some point in the future. As an unashamedly big fan of Venom, I purchased a Blu-ray copy of the film, which contains several behind-the-scenes featurettes that offer an inside look at Sony’s antihero adventure.

One of these featurettes, “Designing Venom,” focuses on the process behind creating the film’s titular hero. One of the people interviewed in the featurette was Venom co-writer Jeff Pinkner, who discussed the controversy around Venom’s lack of a spider symbol on his chest. While discussing the issue, Pinkner stated that Spider-Man exists in the film’s universe:

"“[One] of the things that sparked outrage is the fact that Venom does not have a big Spider-Man emblem across his chest. In a movie where Spider-Man exists in the universe but does not exist in our story, it would make no sense.”"

Interestingly, Pinkner’s statement was played over a comic book panel that featured Spider-Man alongside Venom, seemingly eliminating the possibility of the writer’s comments being a simple slip of the tongue.

But wait, the excitement doesn’t stop there. Pinkner went on to state that there’s a possibility for Venom to end up with his signature white spider across his chest after meeting Spider-Man:

"“This is not to say that in a future movie down the line that a symbiote and Spider-Man might not share a moment, and that symbiote might end up with a Spider-Man emblem splashed across his chest.”"

Before continuing, it’s important to keep in mind that even though Pinkner identified Spider-Man as being part of the Venom universe, things aren’t necessarily official. For one, there have been no comments from Sony regarding their live-action plans for the wall-crawler outside of the MCU.

Secondly, plans have a tendency to change (sometimes quite drastically) in the movie industry, especially when it comes to big franchises like Spider-Man and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So even if Sony is looking at using Spidey in its franchise, we shouldn’t yet take the hero joining the Venom-verse as a sure thing.

Having said that, as it stands at the moment, it seems that a version of Spider-Man lives in the same world as Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Jared Leto’s Morbius. Given this exciting bit of information, you’re probably wondering how likely it is for Spider-Man to be introduced in Sony’s new franchise.

There’s Precedent For Sony Wanting Its Own Spider-Man

With projects like Morbius, the untitled Kraven the Hunter spinoff and the aforementioned Black Cat and Silver Sable solo adventures, it’s clear that Sony intends to build a successful, inter-connected franchise that’s not dependent on Spider-Man. However, there’s some evidence to suggest the studio is also open to have the super-powered friendly neighborhood be a part of the universe down the line. The first piece of evidence to support this comes in the form of an easy-to-miss reference in Venom‘s opening sequence.

The film opened with a Life Foundation rocket crash-landing on Earth after the symbiotes it was transporting broke out and killed most of the astronauts inside. One of the few survivors was revealed to be John Jameson Jr., the son of everyone’s favorite Daily Bugle Editor In Chief, J. Jonah Jameson. While Jameson Jr.’s inclusion could have ultimately been just a fun nod to Spidey’s comic book roots, J. Jonah Jameson has been a core player in the Spider-Man mythos for decades, so it’s unlikely (though, admittedly, not impossible) that Sony would indirectly establish the character in a franchise where Peter Parker (or a version of the hero) doesn’t exist.

Another – and perhaps more significant – piece of evidence comes from Richard Wenk. Wenk, best known for penning The Equalizer and The Expendables 2, was revealed to have signed on to write a script for a Kraven the Hunter film back in August of 2018. A few months after the news broke, the writer sat down for an interview with Discussing Film. During the conversation (around the 10:20 mark), Wenk talked about his Kraven script and revealed that Spider-Man was a big part of the story:

"“It is in the Spider-Man universe. It’s going to adhere very closely to the lore of Kraven the Hunter, and he is going to come face to face with Spider-Man. I’m just beginning it, so I’m beginning the process, and because it’s a big IP, Marvel world, [there are] lots of hurdles to overcome before you even start writing, you know, to crack the right story and get the right tone.”"

As Wenk stressed, the story was in its infancy at the time of this interview and plans could have changed from then to now. However, the fact that he was even allowed to include Spider-Man in the script further strengthens the possibility of Sony being interested in getting the hero involved in its own Marvel universe.

Could A Different Spider-Man Affect The MCU?

So we’ve established that Sony seems keen on getting Spider-Man into Eddie Brock’s world. While that’s a remarkably exciting possibility, a lot of fans may understandably be concerned about something: would a new, big screen version of the web-slinger signal the end of Peter Parker’s MCU career? Fortunately for fans of Tom Holland’s Spidey, two key things point to this being unlikely. Firstly, there’s the separation between Sony’s universe of Marvel characters and the MCU.

Throughout the past few months – most notably in the time leading up to and following the release of Venom – there was mounting speculation regarding the possibility of Sony’s universe being integrated into the MCU. Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, such a possibility was shut down when Entertainment Weekly published an article detailing Tom Hardy’s transformation into Eddie Brock.

In the piece, EW revealed that the terrifying space goo wasn’t part of the agreement that brought Peter Parker over to the MCU:

"“‘Venom’ is the first of Sony’s new films based on characters from the Spider-Man comics, although it’s a separate world from last year’s ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming.’ (It’s also not part of the deal between Sony and Disney that allows Tom Holland’s Spidey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe).”"

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Whether or not Sony’s franchise will eventually crossover with the MCU remains to be seen. However, the fact that Venom wasn’t part of Marvel Studios and Sony’s original deal seems to indicate that, should Spider-Man appear in the Venom-verse, he would most likely be a separate version from the one currently hanging around in Marvel Studios’ playground.

The second key thing to consider is Sony’s apparent interest in continuing its partnership with Marvel – at least for the time being. During an interview with Vanity Fair, longtime Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal was asked what she planned to do with Spider-Man once Sony’s deal with Marvel Studios ended. The producer responded by expressing her desire to keep Spidey in the MCU:

"“I can only hope for a future where things work out. I’ve known Kevin since he was [Avi Arad’s] very, very quiet assistant, who for many years sat in that room listening to us and being so much smarter than any of us without any of us realizing. I will say that working with Marvel has been one of the highlights of my professional career.”"

Looking at Entertainment Weekly’s article and Amy Pascal’s comments, it seems like Sony introducing its own Spider-Man would not impact Peter Parker’s status in the MCU. How having different live-action Spider-Man iterations co-existing on the big screen would work is another matter entirely but, as evidenced by Into The Spider-Verse, audiences are more than willing to embrace different versions of the hero.

There’s no denying that the boundaries of animated storytelling are far more open than those of live-action. Fortunately, with the superhero genre gradually introducing audiences to increasingly complex concepts such as multiple realities and universes, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for different versions of our beloved web-slinger to exist and find success at the same time.

Granted, as previously mentioned, things aren’t set in stone. Situations can change and Sony could ultimately be more interested in developing its superhero brand without relying on Spider-Man. At the moment though, Spidey appears to exist in the Venom-verse. Whether he’s a teenager coping with high school issues or an already established superhero swinging around New York City, we don’t know. So far, all we can do is wait and see how things continue to develop for Sony’s Spider-Man universe, to get a better picture of whether Spider-Man could at some point interact with characters like Eddie Brock or Morbius.

Everyone’s favorite wall-crawler will return in Spider-Man: Far From Home, opening on July 5, 2019. As for Sony’s universe of Spider-Man-related characters, the franchise’s next chapter, Morbius, arrives on July 31, 2020.