Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse were both critical and commercial hits, with many fans ranking them among the greatest comic book movies ever made.
There's a great deal of excitement to see how the story concludes in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, but what comes after that? Well, we know that Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk spin-offs are officially in the works. And, on Friday, we learned that an animated Venom movie is being developed by Final Destination: Bloodlines directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein.
The live-action Eddie Brock in Sony's Venom franchise, Tom Hardy, is also said to be involved in some capacity after seemingly bidding farewell to the Lethal Protector in 2024's The Last Dance.
There were first rumours about an R-rated animated movie being in the works at Sony in early 2024. Today, Daniel Richtman is reporting that Venom is targeting the rating, which makes a movie unsuitable for viewers under 17 without an accompanying parent or adult.
If accurate, this is a bold move on Sony's part. There have been plenty of successful R-rated animated TV shows, like Invincible and Rick & Morty, but in theaters? That's a risk, even with a character as popular as Venom. However, heading down this route would allow Lipovsky and Stein to embrace the darker side of this character and really go all-in on the horror and violence.
2018's Venom has come under fire for its Spider-Man-less take on the anti-hero's origin story, and while Venom: Let There Be Carnage was an improvement, its PG-13 rating meant we got a pretty bloodless take on Cletus Kasady. A new animated Venom movie could go some way in fixing that. Venom: The Last Dance was also pretty tame on the violence front, but was a solid popcorn flick.
The Venom franchise was hugely successful for Sony Pictures, but each movie still made less than the one before. Then, when Tom Hardy confirmed he would be stepping away as Eddie Brock after the trilogy concluded, the studio found itself without a leading man.
While Hardy was likely using the end of his contract as a way of publicly negotiating with Sony for a bigger payday, we heard the plan was to pivot and shift the spotlight to a new host: Flash Thompson.
A soldier named "Thompson" lost his legs courtesy of a Xenophage in Venom: The Last Dance, so it seems the idea was for the surviving piece of the Symbiote to bond with him before reuniting with Eddie to battle Knull, the apparent big bad of Sony's Spider-Man-less Universe. All plans have been put on hold since Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter bombed.
Venom first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #300 in 1988. Initially conceived as an alien symbiote that bonded with Spider-Man, Eddie Brock later became host to the alien costume after being introduced as a disgraced journalist seeking revenge on Spider-Man.
Stay tuned for updates as we have them.