While the world of DC Comics has become relatively coherent and streamlined on the silver screen, the live-action Marvel mythos has become insanely fractured in recent years. No property epitomizes that more than the Spider-Man mythos. Although Sony is leasing the Web Head to Marvel so Spider-Man: Homecoming can become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio is making moves of its own to keep itself distant from Marvel Studios. One of the most significant moves in that regard is the production of a standalone, R-rated Venom movie, and we have just learned that it will not even be related to the Wall Crawler's upcoming adventure. Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts explained:
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.
Jon Watts' recent comments to Fandango about Venom's connection (or lack of connection) to Spider-Man: Homecoming only serve to further complicate how Spider-Man's corner of the Marvel mythos fits into the MCU. Not only will Venom not connect to the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe but Tom Holland also recently admitted that he's not 100% sure if he is even going to be involved with that project. If that turns out to be true, then this could potentially become a Venom movie with absolutely no connections to any other Marvel characters.
The idea of a Venom movie completely removed from the Marvel universe is an intriguing prospect, but it also seems fairly bizarre. It raises one critical question: at what point is a Venom movie no longer a Venom movie? Without any connections to the greater Marvel universe (and possibly no Spider-Man to balance him out) isn't a Venom movie just another horror film? These ideas of continuity and connectivity present an interesting discussion about the nature of the character, so we're going to have to wait and see what happens as the project moves further into development.
Of course, as fanboys and fangirls, we just want to see Venom handled appropriately on the silver screen. The Venom symbiote has only really appeared once (during the events of Spider-Man 3), and the character was completely wasted in that part, as well as poorly casted, with Topher Grace as Eddie Brock. We're along for the ride if Sony wants to try something incredibly different and make a Venom film that completely stands on its own; we are just also puzzled at the prospect of what that might look like.
CinemaBlend will keep you posted regarding the development of Venom as more information becomes available to us. Spider-Man: Homecoming will debut this summer on July 7, 2017, and Venom is currently slated to hit theaters the following year on October 5, 2018.
