I am going to try to explain this as simply as possible.
Sony owns the movie rights to Spider-Man and essentially everything in the Spider-Verse.
Spider-Man has always been Marvel’s biggest character, but they couldn’t use him when they started doing movies because Sony owns the rights.
This of course made things a bit odd because Spider-Man touches almost everything in the Marvel Universe.
The first two Spider-Man movies under Sony helped start the comic book movie explosion we see now, but to keep the rights they had to keep making movies and the last three weren’t that hot.
Eventually Marvel and Sony brokered a deal to bring Spider-Man to the MCU and that is why you saw this new younger version of Spidey in Civil War.
Now because the new younger version of Spidey is being well received, Sony wants to do spinoff movies. The biggest one being Venom who is one of Spider-Man biggest enemies (and sometime friend), but………
Venom’s backstory is very much attached to Spider-Man, he was essentially created from Spider-Man, so it is hard to have a Venom story with no Spider-Man in it.
For a while it appeared it would be in a totally different universe, but there seems to be some confusion on this new Spider-Man’s role in the Sony Universe even while he is in MCU movies.
Here is the breakdown of said confusion.
In an interview with FilmStarts, executive producer Amy Pascal, who remains in charge of the Spider-Man universe for Sony, said that upcoming projects like Venom will be a part of the MCU. Remember, technically Homecoming is also a Sony project, but Marvel is overseeing the creative side of the movie.
“Well, those movies will all take place in the world that we’re now creating for Peter Parker,” Pascal said. “They’ll all be adjuncts to it. They may be different locations, but it will still all be in the same world. They will all be connected to each other as well.”
If that’s the case, than technically that would mean Venom and Silver & Black take place in the same universe as Spider-Man: Homecoming and, even more importantly, as the MCU. Pascal continued by suggesting there was always a chance that actor Tom Holland’s Peter Parker could appear in Venom or Silver & Black.
“I think one of the things that Kevin [Feige, head of Marvel Studios] has done with Marvel that’s so brilliant is bringing the fans along and making each movie seem like a chapter in a book that you have to read in order to go forward,” Pascal said. “And I think the investment that the fans get to feel in being part of a larger story and understanding what’s happening is something that I know Sony would want to emulate.”
This sounds good, but it doesn’t look like anyone told the people at Marvel.
“No plans to include [Venom] in the MCU right now,” Feige said. “That is Sony’s project.”
It’s not just Feige who feels that way, either. Homecoming director Jon Watts told Fandango a few months ago there was no overlap between the two universes.
“It’s not. It’s not connected to the Marvel world, so that’s really intriguing … what that will be,” Watts said. “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.”
Hopefully they figure it all out, because a Venom movie without Spider-Man in some capacity wouldn’t sit right with a lot of fans.