Sony has revealed that their isolated branch of the Marvel universe will be formally called "Sony's Spider-Man Universe." While the name is new, Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) has been in existence for several years now, with 2018's Venom being the first official entry into the franchise. Although Sony's films pull from Marvel Comics lore and even feature some familiar faces from the MCU, the SSU is distinctly separate from, but adjacent to, Disney/Marvel Studios' ongoing series of films.
Marvel Comics fell under hard financial times in the 1990s, promptly leading the company to sell off the film rights of their most beloved properties to stay afloat. Around this time, Sony purchased the rights to Spider-Man and his pantheon of villains and have retained them to this day, despite the fact that Marvel have since established their own in-house film studio under the Disney umbrella. The web-slinging hero did eventually make his way into Disney's MCU in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, but that didn't stop Sony from establishing their own cinematic universe based on Spider-Man's many rivals a few years later. Venom was the first of these films to release, laying the groundwork for Sony's upcoming films, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius.
During their presentation at this year's CinemaCon, Sony revealed that their collection of Spider-Man-inspired films would be called "Sony's Spider-Man Universe." Although Peter Parker's alter ego is named in the title, it's unclear whether or not the original Spider-Man himself will make an appearance in any of the upcoming SSU films. That being said, it is possible that the highly publicized rights fiasco between Disney and Sony resulted in a compromise that would allow the iconic superhero to show up in both franchises.
Nevertheless, Sony assigning an official name to their series of Spider-Man films is significant. It is evidence that the studio plans to continue releasing films in the universe, regardless of what happens with Spider-Man in the MCU. It also implies that Tom Holland's version of the web-slinger could eventually make an appearance alongside Tom Hardy's Venom at some point.
With the multiverse confirmed to play a role in Disney/Sony's upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home, it is highly likely that the same narrative device could be used to justify Holland simultaneously portraying two separate iterations of the same character. The end result might get confusing for general audiences, which would give Sony incentive to ensure that their version of Spider-Man is distinct from Disney's. And since the studio clearly plans to move forward with the character, it's a safe bet to assume that more Sony's Spider-Man Universe content is coming on the horizon.
Source: CinemaCon
