According to sources speaking to Deadline, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige secretly worked on Sony's 2018 Venom film. This comes hot off the heels of the news that Spider-Man will no longer be featured in the MCU thanks to a financial disagreement between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.

Deadline reporter Mike Fleming Jr. reports that Disney CEO Bob Iger had attempted to broker a deal between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, all to allow future cross-studio projects like Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home to continue.

“As the Spider-Man relationship grew, Feige and Sony Pictures chief Tom Rothman spoke about the possibility of a wider involvement in the Sony-controlled Spider-man universe, which contains 900 characters,” Fleming Jr. wrote. “I’m told that Feige lent an unofficial hand with the blockbuster Venom, but I’ve also been told that that film was far from the polished product that grossed $856 million worldwide, until Rothman himself spent a good long time in the editing room helping to get it there.”

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Fleming Jr. did not detail to what extent Feige was involved in the production of Venom.

Venom received mixed to negative reviews from critics. IGN gave it a 4 out of 10, calling it, much like its anti-hero cracks, a “turd in the wind.” Despite that lackluster reception, Venom went on to gross more than $800 million, and even outperformed (before adjusting for inflation) Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and the first Star Wars film. This is largely thanks to a strong performance in the Chinese movie market.

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The success has clearly bolstered Sony’s hopes for the franchise, with the announcement that Venom 2 will be directed by Andy Serkis

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and today is weird, yo.