When Sony was still hoping to build a cinematic universe with the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, among the spin-offs planned was for Venom. But of course, the plans fell apart which led to the deal that would bring Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, despite having the backing of Marvel, Sony apparently still wanted to do their own thing since they do own the rights. Among those plans includes an animated film featuring Miles Morales set for December 2018. Now that would be fine as it would give everyone what they want. Marvel would work on live action films with Peter Parker, while Sony would still have their own projects with animated films and Miles Morales, who some fans wanted in the MCU instead of Peter. But that's not enough apparently, as Sony still wants to do a Venom movie. And as of Thursday, a Venom movie has been slated for October 2018.
Here's the thing about Venom. You can't rush him. "Spider-Man 3" was proof of that, and it was already stuffed with multiple plots. But to start Venom off with his own movie right off the bat is insane. They call it a spin-off, but spin-offs usually work better when something is established and then given its own focus. That's not what's happening here. The right path to do bring in Venom is one Spider-Man film featuring the black suit, one movie with Venom as the villain, and finally give the character his own film.
Frankly, ever since the Spider-Man deal was made, I immediately thought of a way to bring Venom into the MCU. Spider-Man gets the symbiote in Infinity War, gets rid of it in his solo sequel, and fights Venom in the third. And with Marvel backing them at this point and knowing their failings in the past, why can't Sony just focus on animated films and leave Venom alone? And the obvious answer, money, isn't a good one.
Unlike previous reports, the release date announcement doesn't make it clear if the Venom movie will be its own entity or be part of the MCU. This will be the determining factor of whether this film will be worth it though. If it exists on its own, then what's the point in making it when the real Spider-Man films are being done with Marvel? It would be like the situation with Fox and the Fantastic Four. There would be no faith in a project that would be much better in Marvel's hands, and the audience can tell the difference between 'Marvel' films and 'Marvel Studios' films now.
But let's look at the flipside and the potential that Venom could be in the MCU. I laid out my plan above, and that would be the correct course. Hell, there's already rumors of the symbiote indeed making an appearance in Infinity War. Of course, this would mean that a Venom movie would have to come later. It's not like Sony needs to make the film to keep the Spider-Man rights when they already have the Homecoming sequel set for 2019. But if a Venom comes before the sequel, what could it mean? Well, I've come up with a theory.
The film could take inspiration from the Ultimate comics and be a prequel of sorts. In the Ultimate universe, the Venom suit was not an alien symbiote, but as a cure for answer to help heal the patient, developed by Richard Parker and Eddie Brock Sr. But problems arise when the company they were working has plans to weaponize the suit. And if the Ultimate Spider-Man video game is to be believed, Brock Sr. bonded with the suit, losing control and causing the plane crash that killed Peter's parents.
Maybe the film could take inspiration from this, making it somewhat unique to the MCU and giving it a bit of a horror field. In fact, aside from the time Peter was wearing it, the wearer of the Venom suit does not bear the white spider as the mainstream version does.
This could lead to Peter actually getting the suit in the Homecoming sequel, leading to Eddie Jr. becoming the new Venom for the third film.
Although, there are two reasons why I feel this approach couldn't work:
1. The Amazing Spider-Man films already placed an importance on Richard Parker's work and that a life saving treatment and could be weaponized. Some people didn't like this idea and I doubt they'd like that aspect to continue over to the MCU.
2. I could see the film being an Alien film but with some Hulk-like tendencies. Honestly, it's not hard to see some similarities between the symbiote and a Xenomorph. Hell, in "Spider-Man 3", you could pretty much swap out Venom for one and no one would notice; they even had similar shrieks. The point is, I wouldn't want it appear like an Alien rip-off.
Who knows though? Setting a release date doesn't automatically mean it'll come out by then. Marvel's rearranged their release schedule before to make room for Spider-Man and an Ant-Man sequel. A Venom movie could work if it's done by Marvel and comes out at the right time. If it's done by Sony and has no connection to Tom Holland's Spider-Man or the MCU, then it's really not worth seeing and could flop as bad as "Fant4stic".
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