Kevin Feige Confirms Venom Isn’t Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

After months of speculation by fans, Kevin Feige finally confirms that the new Venom movie won’t be a part of the MCU. It’s been a few months since Sony Pictures announced plans to move forward with an R-Rated Venom film, but the news has rocked the online world. After a disappointing appearance in Spider-Man 3 and years of rumors involving a solo film, the arrival of Spider-Man in the MCU had fans hoping that a proper version of the Symbiote-powered villain could be on the way. With Sony’s announcement, however, things were thrown into confusion.

Despite Tom Holland wanting to face off against Venom, Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts confirmed the new film would not be connected to his movie. And while some have assumed the whole idea of the film could be a ruse by Sony to help sell their company, word broke last month that not only was the movie still going forward, but that Tom Hardy would star and Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) would be directing. Though the MCU status of the film seemed to fade more and more with each piece of news, the addition of Hardy and Fleischer to the project meant a proper version of Venom could be on the horizon.

Though the film may still do well on its own, we now know definitively that it’s not connected to the MCU. AlloCiné (via Screen Geek) nabbed an interview with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, where the producer clarifies the confusion:

“For now, there is no plan for Venom in the MCU. It’s a Sony Project.”

While the news isn’t surprising, it still stings a little. A good Venom movie outside of the MCU is certainly possible, but it opens up a number of questions and possible issues. For one, the character is strongly tied to Spider-Man, meaning Sony will either have to dance around Venom’s origin and resemblance to the wall-crawler, or they’ll need to seriously rejigger his backstory.

Luckily, Feige doesn’t discount the possibility that Venom could someday join the MCU. After all, just a few years ago Spidey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe seemed like a pipe dream. And given how many times he’s been rebooted, it’s not as if the MCU couldn’t introduce their own Venom if Sony’s version fails. Then again, Sony could find a masterful way to allude to a history with Spider-Man in order to set up Hardy eventually joining the MCU, but we won’t hold our breath.

With Venom scheduled to arrive next year, the movie will likely need to start shooting soon. As that time approaches, we’ll be hearing a lot more about the cast and story and get a better idea of how it will shape up. In the meantime, there’s always the possibility that this whole thing is an elaborate scheme and Venom will never see the light of day. Either way, we’ll keep you updated.
Source: ScreenRant