With all the hype surrounding Marvel’s upcoming Spiderman: Homecoming, fans should be even more excited to hear that Spidey’s number one nemesis is getting his own spin-off. Exhibitor Relations, the box-office authority since 1974, tweeted on March 16, 2017 that a Venom spin-off will officially be a part of Sony’s 2018 release calendar. Slated to be released just over a year after Spider-Man: Homecoming, Venom is literally the web-slinger spin-off fans have been begging Marvel to release for years.

Watch out, Spider-man. VENOM is now part of the release calendar web as Sony has slated the Spidey spinoff for October 5, 2018. — Exhibitor Relations Co. (@ERCboxoffice) March 16, 2017

After 2007’s Spider-Man 3 became the highest grossing film in the Spider-Man Trilogy, it was clear what fans liked most about the radioactive webster. But his ability to dabble into the darkness of the symbiote and go head to head with Venom, one of his most ruthless foes, began to make way for the question of “If enjoy seeing Spidey fight Venom so much, what would a film with Venom fighting other heroes and villains be like?”

By July 2007, Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment, Avi Arad, announced that he was setting in motion the plans that would develop into a Venom spin-off in coming years. This film was set to pit Venom against the psychotic Carnage and portray Venom as the brooding yet confused antihero character we’ve grown to love with the portrayals of heroes like Wolverine or the early Hulk.

By September 2008, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, writers of Zombieland, had signed on to write. However, production remained stagnant up until March 2012 when Chronicle director Josh Trank began showing deep interest in directing. However, by December 2013 there was a complete overhaul of everyone involved and fans were told the Venom idea would be rebooted alongside 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man reboot.

Although nothing came from any of these prior announcements, the revelation of Sony’s involvement today is still grounds for excitement. the writing is helmed by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner who are writing this year’s ‘hardly anticipated‘ Jumanji sequel, there is still a chance they can still make Venom a box-office smash, based solely on the fact that pretty much every Marvel fan just really wants to see this happen.

Despite all the development hell, a Venom spin-off has gone through, the day it finally gets released will be an immaculate moment for all Spider-Man fans. Until then, we’ll ‘stick to the web’ and keep posted about any info leading up to the Oct. 5, 2018 release of Venom.