http://screenrant.com/sony-venom-movie-mcu-connections/
This teetering back and forth lately on the question of "Is Venom in the MCU or not??" has turned out to be borderline comical, and probably driving Kevin Feige absolutely nuts. With that said, based on the latest interview, where we are right now is this:
“First, there is Spider-Man happily in the place where he’s supposed to be which is in the Marvel Universe. I think everything comes from that. This is the signpost, the tentpole, the signature and… the other movies that Sony’s going to make, in their relationship to this [MCU] Spider-Man, take place in this [separate Sony] world. Although you’re not going to see them in the Marvel Universe, it’s in the same reality.”
Ultimately, I'm not sure what to think. If I had to guess, I think Venom will start out as separate from the MCU, almost as a Sony trial run, but then if it is good, they might retroactively bring it into the MCU. The biggest problem with everything here is that Marvel likes creative control of their MCU, which they should, and ultimately these side-movies like Venom or Black Cat or whatever, will be made by Sony, where they don't have creative control. Will be interesting to see how that plays out.
In the end, I think something big is going to shift in the meantime, that may change everything. Don't forget that Sony Pictures Studios is struggling big time right now and is also trying to sell the company. While I don't think Sony wants to give us Spidey rights beings how he is the best thing going for them right now, they may either have to or maybe Marvel just buys all of Sony Pictures outright. In the meantime, I truly believe Sony is announcing all these Spidey spinoffs as some type of big negotiating tool. Anyway, lots of big things at play here which are hard to predict.
