Spider-Man: 7 Reasons To Be Worried About Venom & Black Cat Spin-Offs

1. Why Consciously Confuse Things?

Surely the whole point of Sony selling the rights to Spider-Man back to Marvel in their complex, lucrative deal was to use the MCU as a launch-pad for their own movies? Okay, so in the process of accepting that manifesto, you're effectively turning your own movies into parasitic entities dependent on a much more successful sibling, but that's the deal they've cut.

To then wilfully go and continue releasing films as if that deal doesn't exist is madness.

And what's more, despite the model set by SOME of the X-Men movies, having different alternate universes running concurrently is not a sensible approach. Even the best X-Men movies are criticised virulently for their messed up timelines and plot-holes, and there's no getting around the fact that the new set of characters are openly lambasted for not being the veterans. Keeping the old crew around just offered an unfortunate totem to loom over the new, and they could never hope to live up to the comparisons.

Sony have now made a conscious strike for difference. They're embracing the fact that their spin-offs are different from the MCU, without realising that that exact distinction is what is going to heap unnecessary pressure on them. Different to the MCU inherently means different to established success, different to creative excellence, different to longevity... Why on Earth would anyone want to draw that line?!

And even more worryingly, Sony have consciously ensured that no matter how great Tom Holland's Spider-Man is, or how well the MCU Spidey films do, they can never bring him into these movies. We'll never see Holland fight this Venom, or be seduced by this Black Cat, without a serious change of stance. And that's audience repellent right there.

What do you think of Sony's plans to release non-MCU spin-offs? Share your reactions below in the comments thread.