Venom is an upcoming comic book movie based on the Marvel Comics character and Spider-Man anti-hero of the same name, played by Tom Hardy. With production being handled entirely by Sony and no involvement with Marvel Studios, it is being produced by Avi Arad and Matt Tolmachnote and set to be directed by Ruben Fleisher with a script written by Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg. A release date is set for October 5th, 2018.
Plot details are unknown, save for that the character of Carnage will appear as an antagonist. Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed appear as Ann Weying —Eddie Brock's ex-wife— and Dr. Carlton Darke, respectively, while Jenny Slate and Reid Scott (Veep, My Boys) have been cast in unspecified roles.
Information on whether or not Venom is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been wildly inconsistent, with conflicting comments from the creators and reports from other outlets. Kevin Feige's official stance is that it's a spin-off that he has no involvement with, meaning that there are currently no plans to consider Venom canon to their iteration of the Spider-Man franchise; conversely, Sony seem to be acting like this is no different than what Marvel has done with their Netflix shows with relation to their movies.
