Since Sony's Venom was announced, the symbiote in the room has been just what, if any, connection this film and the growing Spider-Verse has to Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. It seems like there's a possibility that Tom Holland could show up in a surprise cameo role in Venom, and recently we heard that Sony is interested in having its characters pop up in MCU movies and having the Avengers cameo in Sony movies. That's an exciting prospect for fans that want all of the Marvel characters as integrated as possible, but as far as Venom himself, Tom Hardy, is concerned, Sony's Venom films don't need any Marvel crossovers, as he explained:
We're more than happy to stand alone. We have a Venomverse and 900 characters to play with.
Basically what Tom Hardy is saying is that they don't need any Marvel crossovers in what he dubs the Venomverse, which, at the moment, is actually more accurate than the Spider-Verse. He and the rest of the Venom family are perfectly content to do their own thing without any sort of crossover with the popular heroes of the MCU. Tom Hardy is also right; Sony has access to a lot of characters, more than enough to fill the release calendar for years to come. That's part of why Spider-Man excelled on the big screen before cinematic universes were a thing, and that's why you're seeing news of all these Spider-Man spinoffs in development at Sony now. The web-slinger, his allies and enemies are an entire universe unto themselves that has only been partially explored on the big screen.
Also in the interview with MTV International, Tom Hardy did indicate that he'd like to mix it up with the Avengers, perhaps Hulk in particular, but the point is that Venom doesn't need to do so to succeed, nor does the Venomverse at large. Thus far we are seeing that level of confidence in the number of Spider-Man properties Sony has in some stage of development, from Silk to Nightwatch to Silver Sable and Black Cat (now two separate movies). Sony is forging ahead with the clear belief that the Spider-Verse can sustain itself without Marvel crossover, and perhaps without Spider-Man, at least at first.
That said, it does seem like a possibility that Sony's films may become MCU-adjacent. Director Ruben Fleischer has played it rather coy about Spider-Man showing up in Venom, but the PG-13 rating and rumors make it seem like there's a chance. Also, with reports that the Marvel-Sony partnership is going smoothly, coupled with Sony's desire to have Avengers boost their films and Marvel's desire to keep using the Web-Head, that's a recipe for crossover. Of course, I imagine a lot of the future of Sony's cinematic universe will depend on Venom's performance and how it is received.
Venom arrives in theaters on October 5. Check out our guide for all of the upcoming Spider-Man spinoffs in Sony's universe, and head on over to the release calendar to see all of the biggest movies coming to theaters the rest of this year.
