Venom isn't currently in the MCU, but it very easily could be retconned into the shared universe - if Marvel Studios wants it. While reviews remain mostly negative, Venom continues to see financial success, topping the box office two weeks running. Given how much was riding on this film’s success, these numbers signal good things for Sony Pictures and their long-term plans to create their own MCU-style franchise from the extended world of Peter Parker and his many nemeses. It also makes a Venom 2 more than likely.

Sony seems determined to establish their own comic book franchise independent of Peter’s friends in the Disney-run MCU, centered around Spider-Man villains. However, it’s hard to avoid the ways they worked to ensure that Venom could easily slide into the MCU should the occasion call for it. The film’s PG-13 rating remains notable since so much of the hype during production was centered on it being an R, but of course that immediately allows it to be a family-friendly movie that fits into Disney’s usual fare. Indeed, much of the film seems cut from the MCU cloth and primed for appearances by passing Avengers.

Related: Venom 2: Every Update You Need To Know

With the world of Spider-Man’s villains and anti-heroes set to include fan favorites like Morbius, Black Cat, Silver Sable and Silk, it’s become increasingly plausible to imagine the worlds of Sony and Marvel Studios converging. It wouldn’t be especially difficult to do so either.

Nothing In Venom Contradicts The MCU

Venom Movie Review

Venom’s changes from the canon make for a curious origin story to Eddie Brock and the Symbiote that empowers him: there’s no Spider-Man, so Eddie doesn’t get tangled in a scandal at the Daily Globe which he blames the hero for; the Symbiote is never with Peter so we don’t see the black Spider-suit or any related story; and the action takes place in San Francisco rather than New York. The most notable change comes from leading with Eddie an anti-hero rather than a traditional villain, something the marketing heavily played up. These changes help to make Venom an origin story that can stand on its own two legs independent of both Spider-Man and the wider Marvel universe.

However, that doesn't mean that the film opposes the MCU or contradicts it in any way; there’s nothing in the narrative of Venom that would need to be dramatically changed to fit with the MCU. The main story is relatively low-key compared to the action that goes down in other Marvel movies – like the other San Francisco set superhero film Ant-Man – so it would be easy enough to explain why none of the Avengers felt the need to intervene in taking down Riot. Venom works well as its own one-off story or as the beginning of its own series but it’s not incompatible with joining a well-established epic.

The only area that could be seen to contradict is Eddie’s shock at discovering the existence of aliens, something that is extremely old news at this point in the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. This could still be dealt with if the film is willing to mess around with its timeline (and Venom has been both applauded and critiqued for its 1990s style storytelling). An aside reference to Superman could prove tricky but not so impossible to overcome, and such in-jokes seldom greatly impact the wider narratives.

Venom's Marvel Universe References Work For Sony & Disney

Riz Ahmed and Tom Hardy in Venom

Venom is not bereft of Spider-Man universe references, even as it took great steps to move away from the established canon for its eponymous character. Eddie Brock is a journalist in San Francisco for a Vice-like news organization but his past at the Daily Globe, where he was apparently run out of New York, is mentioned. The MCU has yet to introduce the world of the Globe, nor rival the Daily Bugle and its infamous editor, J. Jonah Jameson. While Peter remains a high-schooler with no current plans to enter the workplace, the daily dealings of the Bugle will inevitably feature in the franchise in some form, and it’s Venom that offers the easiest route to that arc.

Related: How Venom Secretly Sets Up The Spider-Man Villain Universe

Venom also introduces John Jameson, one of the Life Foundation's astronauts and the only one who survived the crash that opens the film. John, the son of J. Jonah in the comics, was the Symbiote’s first host in the movie before jumping to another, and while his fate remains unclear, his presence alone offers another deep cut. John becomes the Man-Wolf in the Spider-Man comics after an expedition to the Moon leads him to discover a mystical Godstone with lycanthropic powers. As Man-Wolf, John frequently fought Morbius the Living Vampire, who will soon become part of Sony’s Spidey-verse with Jared Leto in the lead role. Later, John became Stargod, an interdimensional being with superhuman powers, and even briefly had a relationship with Jennifer Walters, a.k.a. She-Hulk.

Clearly, the world-building potential embedded in Venom runs deeper than its mere possibilities as its own franchise, with elements that beeline right into the MCU (if you go by the comics).

Page 2 of 2: How Would Marvel Bring Venom Into The MCU?

Venom - Eddie and the symbiote

Venom Can Be Added To The MCU Later

The MCU is treasured for the ways it melds together each strand of its decade-long franchise, weaving storylines and characters together in an organic and epic fashion. Side-jokes can pay off in big ways several films later and minor cameos can become crucial players in the narrative. That takes a lot of planning and studio co-ordination, which Sony has not been privy to. While they allow Spider-Man the opportunity to go and play with the Avengers, Venom director Ruben Fleischer admitted Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige had nothing to do with the making of their film. Yet he did not use this as a way to write off any future collaborations with the studio, adding, "I hope that at some point they will be able to crossover. But for us the entire process was self-contained."

Related: Venom Does One Comic Thing So Much Better Than The MCU

As of now, any connection between Venom and the MCU is entirely speculative; it's possible yet unconfirmed. And, really, there's no rush. From reports about Sony's Spider-Man plans, it appears like joining up the two universes is a long-term goal for Sony yet dependent on what Marvel decrees. Any crossover is sure to benefit Venom and its ilk more than the Avengers, so while Sony has played things very coy, teasing the films as "adjuncts" to the MCU, they also need to be able to offer something to Marvel.

Does Venom Need The MCU?

Venom MCU shared universe

It’s clear that Sony wants Venom and co. to be part of the MCU, but does it really need it? Venom doubled its budget in less than a week and soared past $100m domestically with ease, even with bad reviews. The critical discourse remains its own conversation but as a commercial enterprise and starting point for a more ambitious franchise, Venom remains an undeniable hit.

From that viewpoint, Sony may not even need the MCU to use as a crutch. Many critics and industry experts feared Venom would flop since the film’s clear lack of Spider-Man would leave audiences apathetic to Eddie Brock’s solo adventures. That was the main obstacle in the way of Sony getting this franchise off the ground: how do you get the biggest audiences possible, those without encyclopedic knowledge of the wider mythos, to care about a Spider-Man villain when there’s no Spider-Man? Yet that hasn’t proven to be a real problem if the Venom box office numbers are anything to go by. A bigger connection to the MCU widens up storytelling opportunities and the chance to be part of the biggest movie franchise on the planet, but the financial impact may not be as mammoth as it once seemed.

RELATED: Venom's Bad Reviews Completely Misunderstood Venom

Whether this happens down the road or not may all come down to the bigger universe and future movies. Venom is a relatively well-known character who had already made an appearance on film, so selling him to audiences was an easier task than, say, Morbius or Silver Sable. If those films fail to meet expectations then the sturdy foundations of the MCU may come in much handier. As it is, the opportunities are there and Sony has done the work to ensure any sort of collaborations between themselves and Marvel Studios can be done with relative ease.

Next: Marvel/Spider-Man Movie Rights & Shared Universes Explained

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