So even though Sony and Marvel worked over their issues to allow Spider-Man into the MCU in the highly successful CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR and SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING films, that doesn’t mean Sony won’t also be making their own solo films starring ancillary Spider-Man characters. The first one to come out will be VENOM starring Tom Hardy and directed by ZOMBIELAND’s Ruben Fleischer. Here’s what Fleisher had to say about the upcoming film:
I’ve always been drawn to the more antihero superheroes…There’s a dark element to [Venom] and a wit that has always appealed to me…They become almost a third being, which is what Venom is. There’s a famous quote: ‘You’re Eddie Brock. I’m the symbiote. Together we are Venom.
The film will also reportedly draw on the work of John Carpenter or David Cronenberg as visual starting points. Which…that actually sounds pretty damn cool. And on point, especially Cronenberg and the body-horror elements of Venom and Carnage’s symbiote.
Meanwhile, the next Spider-Man spin-off film will be SILVER & BLACK, about characters Silver Sable and Black Cat (an assassin and thief, respectively). Here’s what director Gina Prince-Bythewood had to say about the project, after comparing it to THELMA & LOUISE and MIDNIGHT RUN:
I wanted to tell the story of two damaged women who are at war with each other but need each other to survive
Sounds good to me. I don’t know much about the characters themselves, but I’m always down for more badass female superheroes,
so I’ll definitely give this one a chance when it comes out for sure.
Now, as for how the rest of the Sony spin-off films fit in with the rest of the MCU – which has had contradictory reports from both sides – seems to still be up in the air. But it looks like if these films are successful, that sequels could find these characters meeting the webhead that started it all himself. One can only hope.
Meanwhile, VENOM will stick to theaters October 5th, 2018, while SILVER & BLACK has yet to have a release date.