When The Amazing Spider-Man 2 tanked, it threw off-course all of Sony Pictures' hastily made franchise plans. They had already begun setting up a Sinister Six film, a female Spidey movie, and one based on the anti-hero/villain, Venom, who hadn't been seen since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 in 2007. All of that went down the drain when the deal with Marvel was struck to bring Spider-Man to the MCU, but it looks like a Venom has gotten back on track.
According to THR, Sony has hired Dante Harper to write a new Venom film, but here's the kicker: it won't be connected to what Spider-Man is doing over at Marvel. Their hope is to launch an entirely separate Venom franchise, perhaps noticing that audiences are really digging the anti-hero thing right now with Deadpool and Suicide Squad.
The character was last portrayed on the big screen by Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3, with his performance regarded as one of the many reasons why that film is considered a failure. But there is a wealth of material to mine with Venom, who debuted in 1984 as a symbiotic alien costume in the pages of "The Amazing Spider-Man". Peter Parker's incredibly popular black costume was really the Venom symbiote, but he would eventually give it up and it would latch on to Parker's rival, Eddie Brock, becoming his primary host for years. Venom has had other hosts ever since, including Parker's pal Flash Thompson, who adopted a militaristic persona and took on Black Ops missions. It's unclear what approach Sony will take with their stab at the character.
