Is Venom part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? That question has been asked since Sony first announced the project, and at the times the answer has been more than a little confusing. With the film finally due for release this week, it's a good time to take stock and establish the facts.

At first, it seemed pretty clear that Venom and subsequent Spider-Man spinoffs, weren't set in the wider MCU. In March last year, for example, Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts explicitly said that Venom was "not connected to the Marvel world". Sony's Amy Pascal soon confused the issue when she described these spinoffs as "adjuncts" to the MCU. She seemed to be describing the same kind of relationship the TV shows have with the main Marvel Studios movies. The days after that comment saw Pascal and Feige issue a bewildering array of frequently contradictory clarifications, which left audiences increasingly confused.

Related: Every Spider-Man Villain Spinoff Sony is Developing

Given these issues, here we're going to give you a primer on the film rights to the Spider-Man franchise and explain just how Venom does - or does not - relate to the MCU.

We're used to the idea that Marvel Studios produce their own movies, but that's a relatively new development. Historically, Marvel tended to sell the film rights to their characters off to studios, who would have the knowledge and expertise to (hopefully) produce the next blockbuster. That particular business model became pressing in the late '90s, when the bottom fell out of the comic book industry and Marvel came close to bankruptcy. In 1999, Marvel sold the film rights to Spider-Man over to Columbia Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony.

To give a sense of the sheer scale of the Spider-Man franchise, we recently learned that Sony own the film rights to over 900 Marvel characters. There are also a handful of shared characters whose rights are a little more complex given they're associated both with Spider-Man and other franchises, such as Jessica Drew's Spider-Woman. Those heroes and villains are either "shared," with either studio able to use them in certain specific ways, or else they're blocked off completely and cannot be used by Marvel or Sony.

There are two important details to note. Firstly, there are specific time-limits associated with the film rights. Sony need to release a new Spider-Man movie at least once every five years, otherwise the rights revert to Marvel. That's why we've had two previous Sony Spider-Man franchises; Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 fell through in 2010, already three years on from the release of Spider-Man 3. Sony didn't want to lose the film rights, so, consequently, the first Amazing Spider-Man was produced pretty quickly; if the movie didn't release by 2012, the entire Spider-Man franchise would have headed back to Marvel.

Related: Characters Marvel Still Doesn't Have The Movie Rights To

In 2011, the relationship between Sony and Marvel changed significantly. The two companies had previously cooperated on the Spider-Man movies, but that was becoming increasingly awkward given they were now direct competitors. Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that Marvel and Sony had "simplified" their relationship. "We purchased Sony Pictures' participation in Spider-Man merchandising," he explained in a conference call to investors, "while at the same time, Sony Pictures purchased from us our participation in Spider-Man films." Sony agreed to this because their electronics unit was struggling at the time, and the company was facing something of a cash-flow problem. Last year, Sony's chief financial officer told The Wall Street Journal that it had proved to be a long-term mistake.

So that brings us to the basic situation: Sony own the film rights to Spider-Man and his associated characters, and have to release a movie at least once every five years. After 2011, though, they no longer own the merchandise rights.

Venom Was Almost in The Amazing Spider-Man Universe

Venom Movie Plan Amazing Spider-Man

Several Sony figures had always been interested in the idea of launching Spider-Man spinoffs; Avi Arad publicly talked about the prospect as far back as 2007. But the remarkable success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a gamechanger; Sony realized they had enough popular characters and properties to create their own, Spider-Man-centric shared universe. This was intended to spin out of Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man franchise. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was rewritten to set up a future Sinister Six project, which Sony hoped to release in 2016. That would be followed up by a Venom movie, scheduled for release in late 2017 or the first half of 2018.

Unfortunately for Sony, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 didn't perform well in the box office, and it was absolutely slated by critics. The setup was seen as clumsy and heavy-handed, detracting from the quality of the story itself. Sony's vision of a Spider-Man cinematic universe had turned into the iceberg that sank the Spider-Man films. Insiders at the studio desperately began to pivot, trying to work out how they could save the ship.

Page 2: The MCU and Venom's Villain Universe Explained

Why Spider-Man Is In The MCU

Salvation came from an unexpected source; Marvel Studios. In late 2014, Marvel contacted Sony with the suggestion of striking an unprecedented deal that would bring Spider-Man into the MCU. Marvel was working on Captain America: Civil War at the time, and the studio felt the wall-crawler would be the perfect addition. Sony was initially unconvinced, but then in December 2014 the potential deal became public after the studio was hacked and a huge number of confidential emails were posted on Wikileaks. Feeling the weight of public pressure, the studio called a Spider-Man summit in February 2015 to decide the future of the franchise. They chose to accept the deal.

Read More: Sony's Leaked Emails Reveal THIS Venom Was Always The Plan

Here's how it all works: the relaunched Spider-Man films are financed and distributed by Sony Pictures, meaning they both pay for the movies and profit from their box office takings and home and digital release. Marvel Studios, however, produce the movies on Sony's behalf. In return, Marvel get to use Tom Holland's version of Peter Parker in MCU films like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. They also continue to profit from all merchandise associated with the Spider-Man franchise. This is a win-win for both studios. Sony profit from a reinvigorated cinematic Spider-Man brand, Marvel essentially get creative control and to team Spider-Man up with the Avengers, while both see dividends from the brand.

Sony is Starting Their Own Spider-Villains Universe With Venom

But that doesn't mean Sony is done with making their own Spider-Man movies. The studio still intends to create their own shared universe, one that makes the most of the 900+ other characters they have the film rights to. It's true that they can't use Spider-Man in them, but Sony believe that secondary characters like Venom, Kraven the Hunter, Morbius, and even Silk have the potential to become box office hits in their own right. They'll require substantial rewrites, of course; to use the example of Venom, in the comics it was Spider-Man who brought the symbiote to Earth. Venom director Ruben Fleischer has admitted it was something of a challenge figuring out how to make the tongue-slavering symbiote work without the wall-crawler. Even the character's aesthetic has changed; given the revised origin, it wouldn't make any sense for Venom's chest to carry a spider-symbol.

But what is the relationship between Sony's Spider-villains universe and the MCU? It's possible they could actually coexist after a fashion. After all, the MCU traditionally operates a sort of "two-tier" canon. The top tier is the MCU movies themselves, which are expected to (mostly) work together. On the second tier, you have tie-in content such as the official Prelude comics and countless Marvel Television shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Daredevil. While these are considered part of the wider MCU, they have a very loose relationship indeed with the films; Marvel Studios isn't bound by anything stated in a comic or TV series, and can choose to discount them from canon altogether should they need to. That happened when James Gunn decided to ignore a Guardians of the Galaxy tie-in when he told Nebula's backstory in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Is it possible the Sony Spider-villain movies could be part of this second tier of MCU canon as well?

This speculation has been exacerbated by the fact Marvel and Sony appear to be avoiding "doubling up." In June 2017, there were reports that Sony was working on a potential Mysterio film, plans for which seem to have been dropped when Marvel decided to use Mysterio as the villain for Spider-Man: Far From Home. It at least suggests an effort to minimize conflict between the two shared universes.

Page 3: Venom Isn't in the MCU (But That Could Change)

Venom MCU shared universe

Venom Isn't In The MCU (Right Now)

Ultimately, there's no actual evidence that Venom should be considered part of the MCU. Leaving aside the bevy of confusing statements from Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal last year, more recent comments have asserted that Venom and the other spinoffs are a separate universe. In July, for example, EW stated that Venom is "a separate world from last year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming." They additionally stressed that the film is "not part of the deal between Sony and Disney that allows Tom Holland’s Spidey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Joe Russo, co-director of Avengers: Infinity War, was asked by one fan whether or not Venom should be considered part of the MCU. He gave an unequivocal response; "No, that's a Sony property." It's important to note that Russo was fielding a lot of questions, and throughout the discussion, he was very wary indeed of spoiling anything. Still, it's clear that, so far as Joe Russo is concerned, Venom is not set in the MCU.

Related: All The Evidence Venom Is Actually In The MCU

But one of Kevin Feige's replies last year is particularly interesting. In the midst of all the confusion, there was one interview where the Marvel visionary seemed to give a straightforward response. "Right now, Spidey is in the MCU and it's just Spidey," he observed. Feige is a master of language, and his word-choice is always extremely precise. The fact he chose to use the phrase "right now" is notable. It suggests that things could change...

Venom is Made to be Retconned into the MCU

Sony seems to be hoping that Venom - and, by extension, their entire Spider-villain universe - can be retconned into the MCU as part of a later deal with Marvel. That's reportedly one of the major reasons the studio designed Venom as a (hard) PG-13 franchise rather than aiming for an R-rating; Sony hope that Spider-Man and Venom can face off further down the line. Insiders have continually hinted at the possibility. "There may be some day where you see them together," Amy Pascal commented. "You never know." Director Ruben Fleischer recently told Screen Rant that he thinks some sort of crossover is inevitable. "We want to see these characters interact," he explained. "As to the semantics as to where it takes place it's not for me to decide but it feels like there's a way everyone can co-exist in it in a satisfying way."

Venom is set in San Francisco, a location that's only previously appeared in the MCU in the Ant-Man films. Had Venom been based in New York, the risk of contradictions would have been far greater. The plot is relatively self-contained, lifted mostly from the Lethal Protector comics, and thus it would work just as well in the MCU as outside of it. The only possible issue is avoiding any alien skepticism, given extraterrestrials have been common knowledge in the MCU since the Chitauri invasion in The Avengers. Looking ahead to the rest of the franchise, the lack of overlap between Marvel and Sony properties does mean they could co-exist quite easily; Sony isn't considering a Vulture movie, for example, and Marvel doesn't have any plans to bring Jackpot into the MCU.

Some plot rumors for the rest of the Spider-villain franchise even point towards this. In August last year there were reports that the (now-canceled) Silver & Black was going to feature a Norman Osborn cameo, but using a voice actor so Marvel could cast someone else down the line. If true, that implies Sony wanted Osborn to become a possible link between their Spider-villain universe and the MCU. Meanwhile, a recent article by Variety raised the possibility of even more connections between the Sony films and the MCU down the line; they mentioned Sony hoping to use "other members of the extended Marvel Cinematic Universe." That statement was made after a thorough and comprehensive range of interviews with Sony insiders, although it is possible that it's editorialization on Variety's part.

Related: Are Sony's Massive Marvel Plans A Trick To Sell Its Movie Studio?

The Future Of Sony, Spider-Man, Venom & The MCU

Tom Hardy as Venom and Marvel

The key thing to remember is that, at some point, Marvel and Sony will have to sit down at the negotiating table again. Tom Holland is only contracted for six Marvel movies; a Spider-Man trilogy, Captain America: Civil WarAvengers: Infinity War, and next year's as-yet-untitled Avengers 4. That's presumably the limit of the current agreement between the two studios, and once it's come to an end, they'll need to decide together what's next for the wall-crawler.

Should Venom and the Spider-villains franchise prove to be a success, Sony won't even need to worry about rebooting Spider-Man again in the event the renegotiations fall through; as the leaked emails confirmed in 2014, so long as Sony is releasing any movies related to their 900 Spider-Man characters, they retain the rights. That means the studio hopes to be in quite a strong position, and Marvel could be forced to retcon these films into the MCU in order to continue using Spider-Man. Only the success of Venom will tell.

More: Did The Sony-Marvel Spider-Man Deal Ruin Avengers 4's Surprise?

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