Venom screenwriter Jeff Pinker has hinted that Spider-Man could yet appear in a sequel. Marvel fans had long been skeptical about Sony's plans to create a shared universe centered around Spider-Man's rogues' gallery and secondary characters - but without the wall-crawler himself. Those doubts proved ill-founded, however, given the phenomenal box office performance of Venom.
Although Venom didn't exactly get a gold star from critics - it currently has a critic score of just 28 percent on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes - it proved to be a hit with moviegoers. The film has grossed more than $800 million worldwide, beating even the likes of Wonder Woman, and has certainly served as an effective launchpad for Sony's future slate. Sony has set dates for two films in 2020, expected to be Morbius and Venom 2. But none of the other characters in the works have anything like the kind of prior exposure Venom enjoys, so superhero lovers are once again unsure whether the studio's plans will pay off.
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One thing that would help, of course, is if Sony had the opportunity to use Tom Holland's Spider-Man. It's already clear they hope to persuade Marvel to consider their spinoffs part of the wider MCU, which would in theory allow Holland to cameo. So far, there's no evidence Sony's ambitions are anyone near to fruition, but in a recent interview with Discussing Film screenwriter Jeff Pinker hinted that talks are underway:
"Without revealing anything that I’m not allowed to reveal, it is not impossible that in a future/upcoming Venom movie, Spider-Man will play a significant role... I think it’s fair to say that everyone involved would be very excited by a Spider-Man/Venom movie."
It's an intriguing comment, and it fits with a statement from Kraven screenwriter Richard Wenk back in October. Discussing the first drafts of that script, he disclosed that he was looking to the popular comic book arc "Kraven's Last Hunt" for inspiration. This story has a notable focus on the relationship between Kraven the Hunter and Spider-Man, and it would be very difficult indeed to make an adaptation work without some iteration of Peter Parker. Wenk seemed aware of the issue, and made a throwaway comment about how he hoped to bring Kraven face-to-face with Spider-Man. Taken in isolation, that statement raised a few eyebrows; Wenk admitted that he was only in the earliest days of drafting the script, though, so it was generally assumed he hadn't finished talking with Sony execs about the rights issues. Pinker, however, was involved in the writing of Venom, so he's been involved with Sony's Spider-Man projects for years. It's far less likely that he'd be wrong about this kind of observation.
At the same time, though, it's also important to take this comment with a serious pinch of salt. The build-up to Venom's release saw Sony make a string of ambiguous comments, meaning it wasn't entirely clear whether or not the film should be treated as part of the MCU. That seems to have been a marketing approach - and if so, it paid off. Sony may be taking the same approach with the sequel, so it's best not to assume anything is going to change here until it's officially announced.
More: Sony's Three Spider-Man Movie Universes Explained
Source: Discussing Film
