Spider-Man has had a bit of a hard time on the big screen. Compared to the MCU's mega-success and the staying power (barring one little timeline-splitting quasi-reboot) of Fox's X-Men films, Marvel's wallcrawler has yet to reach the coveted goal of a shared universe.

Sony controls the film rights to Spider-Man and all his related characters. It had huge success with Sam Raimi's trilogy starring Toby Maguire, but its grand plans for a world of spin-offs went down in flames along with Andrew Garfield's tenure as Peter Parker. Still, the studio won't be defeated and is having another go, starting with Tom Hardy's Venom this year.

Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters is turning out to be a bit confusing, due to the presence of some little-known characters and a question mark over the involvement of Tom Holland's Spider-Man. Here's what you need to know.

Venom

preview for Venom trailer 3 (Sony Pictures/Marvel)

The proceedings kick off in October 2018 with Venom, directed Zombieland's Ruben Fleischer. Sony has some work to do to wash away the bad memories of Topher Grace's limp take on Eddie Brock and his monstrous alter ego back in 2007's Spider-Man 3, but the involvement of Tom Hardy in the lead role is a coup that will definitely help in his rehabilitation.

The villain (and sometime anti-hero) is a dark reflection of Spider-Man, created when an alien suit (aka symbiote) that Spidey brought back to Earth from outer space merged with Brock, a down-on-his-luck reporter with a vendetta against our hero.

Fleischer's movie will apparently remove Spider-Man from the equation, with Brock investigating rumours of experiments on human test subjects using a mysterious alien substance that – spoiler alert! – fuses with the reporter and transforms him into a big, black-suited monster. Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate and Woody Harrelson also feature in the decidedly grim and gritty-looking superhero movie.

Morbius, the Living Vampire

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Marvel Comics

Michael Morbius is a biologist who attempts to cure his rare blood disorder with an experimental treatment that involves – uh-oh – vampire-bat DNA, instead transforming himself into a vampire-like being forced to drain the blood of others to survive.

Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters? More like 'Sony's Universe of Tortured Anti-Heroes', right?

Jared Leto – who's already running around the DCEU as The Joker – has signed up to star in Morbius, the Living Vampire. Swedish filmmaker Daniel Espinosa (Life, Safe House) will direct, although a release date is yet to be announced.

Silver Sable and Black Cat

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Marvel Comics

Sometime Spider-Man allies Black Cat (a thief with 'luck powers') and Silver Sable (a mercenary from a fictional eastern European nation) were in line to star in the movie Silver & Black, with Gina Prince-Bythewood (Cloak & Dagger) attached to direct. But after struggling to get off the ground for more than a year, it was announced in August 2018 that the film had been dropped.

Instead, the characters have been promised standalone movies 'at some point', with Black Cat probably up first. Prince-Bythewood will likely stick around as a producer, with Sony promising that her replacement(s) will be another female director.

Silk, Jackpot and Nightwatch

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Marvel Comics

Three other movies are reportedly in development. Silk is Korean-American superhero Cindy Moon, who was bitten by the same spider that gave Peter his powers (and may or may not exist in the MCU already). Jackpot is the identity of two heroes who have been allies of Spider-Man – one a pregnant scientist, the other dependent on superpower-granting drugs.

Nightwatch is an African-American doctor whose career began when he encountered a dying costumed crimefighter who turned out to be – dun dun dun – an older version of himself from the future. Spike Lee was even been rumoured to be considering the project, although he later denied his involvement.

The characters certainly all exist on varying points on the obscurity spectrum, but clearly represent an interest in diversity on Sony's part. Marvel Studios has proven that with the good will of cinemagoers on their side, little-known characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy can become huge stars, and Sony's success with Silk, Jackpot and Nightwatch will rest on the performance of the earlier movies – although the relative obscurity of all the movies in the works will pose a challenge for the studio to overcome.

Spider-Man and the MCU

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Marvel Studios

The biggest question that hovers over Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters is the involvement of Tom Holland's Spider-Man. While the studio retains the rights to the character, it made an historic deal with Disney to feature the newest iteration of Peter Parker in the 2016 MCU movie Captain America: Civil War. Holland has since featured in Spider-Man: Homecoming (a Sony-Disney collaboration) and Avengers: Infinity War – both set firmly in the MCU.

However, Venom and the other characters do not exist as part of the MCU. As far as we can tell, the spin-off stars are supposed to exist in Spider-Man's world, but forever separate from the Avengers and other MCU characters. Don't worry if you're confused – this hurts our heads too.

Holland apparently won't show up in Venom, and his role in the follow-up films is unclear at the moment. His next solo outing – Spider-Man: Far from Home – is part of the MCU, but it could be the case that his future movies will not tie into the world of the Avengers once the Disney deal lapses.

A shared universe of Spider-Man characters without Spider-Man in it seems like a big risk at the moment, but until we've seen how fans respond to the first films, we won't know whether we'll have another MCU or Dark Universe on our hands.


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Headshot of Hugh Armitage
Hugh Armitage
Hugh Armitage is Movies Editor at Digital Spy.