- Is Sonny spitting poison at the MCU
with their big Venom announcement?
Find out on today's Nerdist News.
(upbeat electronic music)
After months of speculation,
Sony has officially announced
the first film in its standalone Marvel universe,
a Venom solo flick starring
former Batman bad boy, Tom Hardy,
as the parasitic anti-hero.
Now they made the announcement via Twitter
with a black and white pic of Hardy rocking a Venom tee
and a caption that reads,
"Tom Hardy is Eddie Brock in #Venom,
"the upcoming film from Sony's Marvel Universe
"releasing October 5th, 2018.
"Production starts this fall."
Now you probably don't need a PhD in throwing shade
to notice that Sony is casting a tiny shadow
on the competition right there.
The phrase Sony's Marvel Universe
is definitely a bit of a battle cry,
letting the folks over at the MCU
know that someone else is about to take a big step
into the Marvel movie universe arena.
But what may need a little more explaining
is how exactly all of this is possible.
How is Sony starting to build
its own Spider-Man-centric franchise
when Sony has teamed up with Marvel
to release Spider-Man Homecoming
in less than two months,
and what does it mean for everyone's favorite wall crawler?
Well, the answer goes all the way back to the '90s
when the then struggling Marvel
sold off the film rights
to some of its most popular characters
in order to stay afloat.
Those sales included the X-Men to Fox,
the Hulk to Universal,
and Peter Parker along with all of his friends
and foes to Sony.
Sony managed to work some magic with the web head
for quite a while with many considering
the original Sam Raimi helmed trilogy
to be the gold standard for superhero genres,
but the company stumbled with their followup franchise,
the Amazing Spider-Man,
which was considered
both a financial and critical disappointment
and abandoned before even getting a third film.
Of course, at this point,
Marvel's financial hardships had ended,
having since become one of the most lucrative film brands
of all time,
and so a deal was struck.
Marvel and Sony would share custody of Spidey
at least for six films.
Sony would use the good will of the MCU
to rehabilitate the reputation
of its once untouchable hero,
and Marvel would be able to welcome
one of its most beloved characters
into his proper big screen home
alongside Iron Man and Captain America.
But as we said, the Marvel, Sony deal
is only good for six films,
which includes last year's Captain America Civil War,
the upcoming Avengers Infinity War,
and the film formally known
as Avengers Infinity War, part two.
Throw into the mix the aforementioned
Spider-Man Homecoming
and it's more or less guaranteed sequel,
and you've got five films
of the six film deal already accounted for,
and with their most recent announcement
regarding Venom and their own Marvel universe,
it's pretty clear that Sony is already thinking
about that Spidey life after the MCU.
In addition to Venom,
they're also planning films
based on other members
of the classic Spider-Man rogues gallery,
including Black Cat and the Sinister Six,
films that both Kevin Feige
and Spider-Man Homecoming director Jon Watts
have confirmed will have no overlap
with the Spider-Man of the MCU.
But how will all of this work?
What will Sony's Spider-Man universe look like,
especially with another Spider-Man
still swinging around in alternate Marvel Manhattan
just a few screens down the multiplex?
Well, the way that we see it,
it could go a few ways.
If Homecoming is a huge hit,
then Sony could try to extend its deal with Marvel
and find a way to eventually connect the two universes,
but on the same token,
a Homecoming hit could lead Sony to decide
they don't need Marvel anymore
and they just end up absorbing the Tom Holland Spidey
into their universe,
complete with a bout of selective amnesia
that prevents him from remembering any of his adventures
with the Avengers.
Another option is giving a Spider-Man who isn't Peter Parker
the big screen treatment.
Sony could probably reap a ton of fan favor
by finally giving Miles Morales a little love,
but the most likely option may just be that
we're going to get a Spider-Man cinematic universe
with no Spider-Man in it,
and as weird as that sounds,
it's not unprecedented.
All of these characters have starred in their own comics,
so there's no question that they can carry a story
without some Spidey assistance,
and we're definitely starting to see examples
of successful superhero movies and TV shows
detached from their main heroes.
Gotham is still going strong over on Fox,
and that show is basically just Batman's rogues gallery,
minus Batman,
and 20 years ago,
a Wolverine movie without the other X-Men
would have probably seemed crazy,
but today, it's one of the best movies of the year.
And the success of Logan
along with other R-rated superhero fare like Deadpool
may really be the best indication
of where the Sony Marvel universe is headed
because there's one other interesting bit of info
in Sony's Venom tweet,
the release date, October 5th, 2018.
Pretty atypical for a big budget franchise tent pole,
especially one that's going to prop up
a brand new cinematic universe.
Release dates that close to Halloween
are usually reserved for horror films,
which leads us to believe
that the Venom movie may lean
into the character's horror roots,
which may in turn set the status quo
for the entire SMU.
After all, a franchise that centers around villains,
seems perfect for a slightly darker tone shift
away from the more kid friendly MCU,
and at the end of the day,
this really seems like Sony getting the best of both worlds.
Let Spider-Man keep playing PG with the Avengers
while Venom and the rest of the Sony films
can veer off into darker R-rated territory,
but what do you folks think?
Are you excited for a multiple, big screen Spider-verses,
and can Spider-Man survive without Spider-Man?
Let's discuss.
(upbeat electronic music)