Ever since its announcement, rumors have persisted whether or not a certain friendly neighborhood Spider-Man would appear in Sony’s upcoming Venom film.
Director Ruben Fleischer has continued to add further fuel to speculation about a potential crossover between the MCU superhero and Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock remaining coy when asked directly if the wall-crawler, firmly associated with the Marvel antihero since his origins, would have a small appearance in the upcoming film.
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“I honestly don’t know what I’m allowed to say,” admitted Fleischer in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “I mean, I know the answer; I’ve seen the movie. But I don’t want to get in trouble for saying something I’m not supposed to.”
Sony has held the cinematic rights to Spider-Man and his supporting characters including Venom since 1999 as part of a licensing deal with Marvel Entertainment. After the lukewarm response to 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony and Marvel Studios announced a new deal that saw the two studios sharing licensing rights to Marvel’s flagship superhero with the character making his MCU debut in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War before starring in last year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming which was a co-production between Sony and Marvel.
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Since the announcement of the Venom solo film in 2016, there have been conflicting reports whether Tom Holland’s Peter Parker would make an appearance as Sony still holds partial cinematic rights to the character. With Fleischer’s comments, it looks like audiences won’t truly find out until the film opens in October.
“Where it goes from here and what worlds it intersects with, I think that remains to be written,” explained Fleischer regarding the Sony franchise’s future. “Ultimately, it comes down to the studio’s deals with the different characters and I don’t really know the specifics of all that. I’m a pawn on that board; I’m one of the pieces.”
Swinging into theaters on October 5, director Ruben Fleischer’s Venom stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom, Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, and Riz Ahmed as Carlton Drake/Riot.