Life being a prequel to Venom was one of the best conspiracy theories online. Every single piece of the puzzle fit together, with the exception of Ryan Reynolds starring. How could Deadpool be in a Venom movie? Different studio? Different universe? I could explain it away, but it was still hard to shake the believability of it all. I mean, just last year Lionsgate pulled off a coup with The Woods, turning it into Blair Witch at the San Diego Comic-Con. Then, just a few months ago, M. Night Shyamalan surprised fans with a button at the end of Split revealing it was secretly a sequel to Unbreakable. Is it really that crazy to think that Columbia Pictures’ Life, which opens next Friday, March 24th, is actually a Venom prequel? Not at all.

But alas, it’s not. The SXSW Film Festival just came to an end where we’ve been told that Life is quite simply, well, Life.

The good news, however, is that Columbia Pictures is in fact developing a Venom feature film to spin-off their Spider-Man franchise, and that they hope to have it in theaters by October 5, 2018. Alex Kurtzman (The Mummy) is no longer directing (thank God). It was initially announced that Dante Harper (Edge of Tomorrow) had been hired to pen the film’s script, which will reportedly not be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe; nor will it be connected, we’ve heard, to the Tom Holland-starring Spider-Man films.

The bad news is that is sounds like Life, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, and Rebecca Ferguson, isn’t all that inspired; it’s reminiscent of a 90’s sci-fi movie, I’m told.

​Life tells the story of the six-member crew of the International Space Station that is on the cutting edge of one of the most important discoveries in human history: the first evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars. As the crew begins to conduct research, their methods end up having unintended consequences and the life form proves more intelligent than anyone ever expected. We’ll have a review this week.

Venom was introduced in 1988 in “The Amazing Spider-Man” #298-300, scripted by David Michelinie and drawn by the legendary Todd McFarlane and Mike Zeck.

The character is an alien symbiote that needs a human host to survive. In return, the alien empowers its victim with incredible powers. He was bastardized by Sam Raimi in Spider-Man 3.

Please God, make me forget…