The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of rumors and speculation about the future of Spider-Man and his friends as Sony and Marvel have been releasing almost contradictory statements about whether or not their two cinematic universes, the existing MCU, and Sony’s upcoming comic-universe starting with ‘Venom’ are actually part of the same universe (you know, because Sony’s will be based on Spider-Man, who is currently part of the MCU). Now finally, it has been made clear, and sadly for those who wanted to see Venom in the MCU, he will not be part of that universe, though at least this means we do not have to worry about any of these ‘Venom’ universe movie (which I have little, to no faith in) dragging down the MCU canon. And if they do poorly enough, we can just pretend they never happened, and wait till Sony lets Marvel have a crack at Venom and company. Anyways, the most recent news comes to us from Sony’s Amy Pascal and Marvel’s Kevin Feige, the two most knowledgeable on the subject, who have had the most to say on it over the past week or so. According to Pascal’s most recent words:

“Here’s what we’re doing: all these characters are a part of the Marvel comic book universe. In that universe, they are all related to each other. Kevin [Feige] makes characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These characters are separate, except for Spidey, who belongs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is why he’s there.”

Of course, when Feige was asked if this is confirmation that Venom and Spider-Man will never have a cross-over, the man replied with:

“We never say never… You could ask me, ‘Is Superman gonna be there?’ I go, ‘Never say never,’ but not any time soon.”

As for the future of ‘Spider-Man’ in the MCU, Feige had the following to say while talking to JoBlo:

“Right now, Spidey is in the MCU and it’s just Spidey. Civil War, Homecoming, we’ve already shot a lot of Tom Holland’s scenes in the upcoming Avengers films, and we’re just starting to solidify our plans for Homecoming 2 — we won’t call it that, whatever it is — which is exciting because it’ll be the first MCU movie after untitled Avengers in 2019. It’ll be the way Civil War informed everything in Homecoming, those movies will launch him off into a very new cinematic universe at that point. Those five movies are [what] we’re focusing on.”

And Feige also commented positively on Sony’s ‘Venom’ universe to JoBlo, saying:

“They have rights to other characters, and I think they’re being very smart in saying ‘We have to make a great Venom movie.’ They’re off to a good start hiring Tom Hardy.”

Are you happy that Sony’s new universe will not interfere with the MCU? Or do you really want to see Venom and Spider-Man fight onscreen again? Are you as frustrated as I am that Sony is really trying to build a universe based on Spider-Man’s villains and allies without Spider-Man himself (and worried this might mean the MCU won’t get to use some of these characters?) Share your thoughts on the matter in the comments below!

Sources: Comicbook, Comicbook