Venom is now a smash-hit success for Sony, and now we have early confirmation that Venom sequels are in the works at the studio. As fans know all too well, Marvel and Sony weren't willing to gamble adding any trace of Tom Holland's Spider-Man to this first Venom movie experiment - but now that it's proven itself as a franchise, it seems that Spider-Man's presence in future Venom sequels is now much more of a real possibility!

One of the co-writers of Venom, Jeff Pinkner, recently appeared on Discussing Film, where he was asked about (among other things) what could happen in future installments of Venom, regarding the Spider-Man character. Here's what he had to say:

"Without revealing anything that I'm not allowed to reveal, it is not impossible that in a future [or] upcoming 'Venom' movie, Spider-Man will play a significant role."

This answer tracks with what fans have always expected, ever since the back and forth on Spider-Man's connection to both Venom and the Marvel Cinematic Universe first arose. Venom was always looked at as the first testing ground for Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters franchise - which frankly wasn't expected to be a big contender in the superhero movie franchise race. However, that expectation has quickly changed in the last few weeks, as Venom has suprpassed $850M worldwide, and Sony's SUMC followup, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is getting near-perfect reviews and topping critics "Best of 2018" lists, heading into its opening weekend. Now it seems that there is indeed an entire universe of Spider-Man-themed films that Sony has at its disposal, with fans eager to delve deeper into that sandbox.

Venom has now proven itself as a franchise-starter, and the sequel is expected to venture into the fan-favorite Carnage storylines, in which serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) gets a symbiote suit of his own, and goes on a rampage of terror as the super-powered killer, Carnage. The larger "Maximum Carnage" crossover storyline also relied heavily on Spider-Man and Venom teaming up to fight Carnage and a gang of killers, which is definitely where Tom Holland's Spider-Man could come into play, if Sony wanted to give its Venom sequel(s) the weight of a major crossover "event" film.

Indeed, the success of Venom now raises two interesting questions:

Will Spider-Man possibly be allowed to appear in other SUMC films like Morbius or Kraven The Hunter? Is Venom successful enough for Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock / Venom to establish ties to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

As we contemplate these matters, Venom releases to 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray December 18.