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It's been reported that Tom Holland is making a cameo, as Peter Parker, which leads me to believe the films are at least set in the same universe. As for crossovers, or Venom battling Spider-Man in a future film-- who's to say?

As an aside, if Sony were able to sneak Spider-Man into the final reel of THIS film for a knockdown, drag-em-out fight that ended with Venom's defeat, and were able to keep a lid on it until opening night audiences saw the film, it would become the stuff of legends. 0.00001% likelihood of that actually happening, but man oh manischewitz would that be something.

Ish. It's definitely not officially under the MCU umbrella like Spider-Man. I believe these Sony spin-off films will interact with the Spider-Man universe, but no farther. Venom will never be popping up in the Avengers films.

All speculative at this point. No one except the studio heads and those involved with the film know for certain. If Tom Holland makes an appearance or there is like an offhand mention to the larger MCU, then obviously it will be.

Now although I’m all for it being standalone - a good film is what matters to me right now - it would be so satisfying if Venom were in fact set in the same Marvel universe (imagine if he were to run into Scott Lang of all people?). Unsurprisingly, Spider-Man not being a part of this is considered problematic by many.

But providing this film isn’t set in the MCU, I think changing Brock’s origins with the Symbiote would make sense; it all depends on how they can pull it off of course. Ultimately, a big surprise appearance by Parker/Spidey would definitely rule. And not knowing till the very last minute? Awesome.