In a surprising turn of events, The Hollywood Reporter today brings word that Sony Pictures is once again looking at bringing Venom, the Marvel Comics antihero, to the big screen. According to the trade, however, this doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a Venom movie connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in any way. The trade notes that the new film is unconnected to next year’s Spider-Man, which is set to star Tom Holland as your friendly neighborhood webslinger.
First appearing in the comic book series as an alien costume worn by Spider-Man in “The Amazing Spider-Man” #252 in 1984, it was several years before the creature left Peter Parker and merged with photographer Eddie Brock, forming the antihero known as Venom. Since then, the character has appeared in a variety of different forms and bonded with several different hosts. In the “Ultimate” Marvel Universe, the suit has a more terrestrial origin, created by Parker and Brock’s scientist parents in an attempt to cure cancer. More recently, the Venom symbiote has been moving between hosts, including Mac Gargan (aka The Scorpion) and Peter Parker’s old high school rival, Flash Thompson.
Venom previously appeared on the big screen, played by Topher Grace in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. Since the release of that film in 2007, rumors have persisted about a solo Venom movie, but variation iterations of the project have failed to materialize. New plans for a Venom movie have producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach developing the property with Dante Harper set to provide the screenplay. Harper previously worked on the script for Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow as well as the upcoming Sleepless Night remake.
Palak Patel and Eric Fineman are overseeing the Venom movie for Sony.
