Now that Sony is set to reboot the Spider-Man franchise next year, with the help of Marvel Studios, it appears that they might be back on track with another arachnid-based superhero… or villain? Anti-hero? I suppose it depends on what interation they decide to go with. New news from Sony has it that the will be reviving the “Venom” movie that was originally put on seemingly perminent hiatus after the cancellation of “The Amazing Spider-Man 3.”

Sony is looking to Dante Harper to pen the script for the film, which will be produced and over seen by “Spider-Man” property stewards, Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, the men behind all of Sony’s Spider-Man films. It’s interesting that Sony would look to someone who has never written a screenplay that has actually been produced for this film; although Tolmach did write a script based on the Hiroshi Sakurazaka novel “All You Need is Kill”, but it was ultimately not used. He was or is also attached to the long-gestating “Akira” live-action film and co-wrote “Sleepless Night,” the upcoming crime thriller starring Jamie Foxx and Dermot Mulroney.

Venom/Eddie Brock first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 1988) and went on to become one of Spider-man’s greatest and most dangerous enemies, but the symbiotic suit (originally worn of Spidey, himself) that would become one-half of Venom actually appeared four years earlier, in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8 in May of 1984. The symbiote would later go on to have several other hosts, most notably it’s current host, Flash Thompson, the Peter Parker bully-turned-close friend, turned United States soldier, turned wounded veteran, turned government agent, turned Guardian of the Galaxy, turned space knight.

Venom’s first outing on the silver screen saw Topher Grace (of That ’70’s Show fame) take on the role in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 3” in what could best be described as an… unfavorable portrayal.

The thing that is especially interesting about this news is that the new “Venom” movie is set to be a franchise apart from the Tom Holland-fronted “Spider-Man” reboot. Does this mean that Sony is going to forgo the comic bok origin of the character and possibly create a new one of their own? It’s hard to imagine Venom coming into being without being first having the symbiote be somehow attached to Peter Parker.

Also, does this mean that this Venom movie won’t be part of the Marvel Cinimatic Universe? This could possibly be the beginnings of the general public seeing the limitations of the quasi-relationship of Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios. It was assumed (perhaps way too presumptuously) that when along came The Spider, also would come all of the characters in the Spider-Verse. But, maybe that isn’t the case at all.

Spider-Man is set to make his MCU debut in “Captain America: Civil War” when it hits theaters on May 6th, 2016; the new Spider-Man movie drops on July 7th, 2017; no release date was given for the upcoming Venom movie.