‘Venom’ Movie: Peter Parker Will Reportedly Appear, NOT Spider-Man

After yesterday’s bombshell that Tom Holland‘s version of Spider-Man would be appearing in the Venom spinoff movie, we’ve now gotten some clarifications about the rumor.

Collider’s Jon Schnepp spoke on the site’s Heroes podcast, shedding some light on the actor’s role in the film, stating that he DID NOT film in costume as the Wallcrawler, but as Peter Parker himself.

“Tom Holland was on set filming scenes on Venom for at least two days as Peter Parker,” Schnepp said. “I’m not saying that Spider-Man is in the film. When I say that ‘Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is in the film,’ I’m saying ‘Peter Parker is in the film.’ This is a cameo.”

Many fans have wondered whether or not the big screen version of Venom would be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially since the movie is coming out through Sony Pictures, or what ties it would have to Marvel Studios in general. After some confusion around the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming, it seemed Venom would be separate.

But the rumor of an appearance from Tom Holland’s Spider-Man only adds more questions to the mix, wondering how closely Sony’s “Spider-Verse” will tie into the MCU.

Schnepp himself goes on to call out those who assume Spidey’s appearance in an R-rated superhero film doesn’t make sense, because no one knows if it is rated R at this point in time. He also points out that not being specifically name dropped in another Marvel Studios movie doesn’t work against it, since big crossover movies never explicitly mentioned characters like the Mandarin or the Red Skull.

“I’m not going to say that anyone was lying when they say ‘Spider-Man is not in Venom,’” Schnepp said. “Because probably Spider-Man is not in Venom, Peter Parker is in Venom.”

Rather than being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Spidey spinoffs could be considered “Marvel adjacent,” according to Schnepp’s interpretation of producer Amy Pascal’s comments.

It remains to be seen how close the Venom solo movie will tie into the Spider-Man mythos and the Marvel Cinematic Universe at large, but we’ll find out more as we get closer to the film’s release date.

Venom premieres in theaters October 5.