Since the plan is for these Spider-Man spinoffs to exist in the same continuity, consider Venom this franchise’s Iron Man.
There are even rumors that Woody Harrelson is cameoing as Cletus Kasady, setting up his transformation into Carnage in a Venom sequel.
But in March 2017, Sony announced that the Venom movie was moving forward, and two months later, Tom Hardy was tapped to play Eddie Brock.
Ever since Topher Grace played Eddie Brock/Venom in Spider-Man 3, Sony had been trying to get a Venom spinoff off the ground, but when the studio put the kibosh on the Amazing Spider-Man series, it looked like that project was gone for good.