Sony Pictures
When Sony announced a Tom Hardy-starring Venom solo film, the first question everyone asked was: “Well, who the hell asked for this?”
And so the movie came and went, and the question remained: “Well, who the hell asked for that?”
While Tom Hardy’s performance was, uh, endearingly committed, the movie itself felt like it was thawed out of a time capsule from the year 2006 with its shoddy CGI and generally bizarre tone.
Nevertheless, Sony Pictures — likely simply trying to retain their rights to the character — were satisfied enough with the results of Venom to move forward with a sequel that’s set to be released October 2, 2020.
However, just because Sony Pictures is forging forward with their own Venom franchise does not mean that the character will never cross paths with Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man, as the two studios were able to strike up a deal in the recent past to share the rights to Spidey.
That’s essentially the sentiment that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige expressed when discussing the possibility of a crossover with CinemaBlend, saying that while he believes it is “likely” to happen, the decision ultimately lies with Sony Pictures.
“I think probably it’s up to Sony. Sony has both those characters and, has Venom in their world. I don’t know what their plans are for another Venom or if they’re doing that. But it seems likely at some point,” Feige teased. [CinemaBlend]
While Sony’s portrayal of Venom may not have been up to the consistently high quality of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, their casting of the character was, as Tom Hardy is certainly as asset Marvel Studios would like to keep around should they eventually strike up a deal for the use of the character.
Given the overwhelmingly positive reactions to Spider-Man: Far From Home (co-produced by the two studios), Sony would be wise to allow Marvel Studios to MCUify one of the few big name characters they have left on their roster.