With Amy Pascal recently suggesting that Venom may well end up existing in the same world as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, now comes an update on that particular topic.

If you remember, Ruben Fleischer is signed on to direct Tom Hardy in Venom. As well as that, Sony are also developing Silver and Black, a Silver Sable and Black Cat team-up picture that exists in the same world as Venom. All of this was being described as a “Spider-Verse” of sorts for Sony Pictures, yet it was initially stated that these films wouldn’t exist in the same realm as the MCU, meaning it was essentially a Spider-Verse without a Spider. Well, unless they wanted to cast another Spider-Man, which would just get all kinds of confusing for casual moviegoers when Holland’s Web-head is still swinging around in the MCU. Now, though, some new details have started to come out.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, the villain of Venom will actually be none other than Carnage! To comic book fans, Carnage, aka Cletus Kasady, is one of Spidey’s most infamous rogues – but as well as being a Spider-Man villain, the symbiote-based lunatic is also famous for teaming and then butting heads with Eddie Brock/Venom.

In further news, it seems that Sony are also considering movies that will focus on Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter. Both of these longtime Spider-Man rogues were planned to be a part of the studio’s previous Spidey franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man. Before The Amazing Spider-Man 2 bombed and caused Sony to scrap that franchise, the plan was for Mysterio and Kraven to be brought in to that world and to become members of the nefarious Sinister Six.

As for ol’ Web-head himself, it now also looks as if Sony does indeed have plans to bring Tom Holland’s Spidey to these pictures. At the moment, Holland has a six-picture deal to play Spider-Man. That began with Captain America: Civil War, continues with next month’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, and then there’s plans in places for two more Spider-Man movies and for Holland to be present when Earth’s Mightiest Heroes come together for next May’s Avengers: Infinity War and its 2019 follow-up. Interestingly, this new information also suggests that the Homecoming sequel will see Spidey yet again working with another hero, much like how next month’s film will pair Spider-Man with Iron Man.

If you ask us, it seems as if Sony are basically looking to establish and flesh-out a shared cinematic world featuring some of Spider-Man’s greatest rogues, before then having Spidey himself turn up down the line. It’s also interesting to remember that Holland’s six-picture deal reportedly only features five films under the dual ownership of Sony and Marvel Studios… meaning that the sixth film will seemingly purely be in the hands of Sony Pictures both creatively and financially. So how better for Sony than setting up a world full of classic villains, only then for the studio to have full control over Spidey for the last film of Holland’s six-picture deal in order to bring him in to this by-then established realm?

As ever, expect a whole lot more on this as we get it.

At present, Venom is set for an October 5th, 2018 release, while Silver and Black has yet to be given a release date. As for ol’ Web-head, Spider-Man: Homecoming swings to the silver screen on July 7th.