Jon Watts’ box-office blockbuster was a crowded affair. Classic villains from the previous Spider-Man franchises including Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) shared the screen with original Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. This movie also, however, had to make room for the series’ big three of Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon, and the screenplay also featured Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) casting a controversial spell and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil stepping over from Netflix to the MCU. There was a lot going on, so it’s a little concerning (and ultimately a relief) that the screenwriters also considered adding Venom into the meat of the movie as yet another antagonist for the three Spideys.
Tom Hardy’s Venom did show up in the end-credits scenes of Spider-Man: No Way Home. He was at a bar, confused, and was considering heading to New York when he suddenly got beamed back to his original universe… leaving a piece of his symbiote beyond. That will get addressed in the future, but Spider-Man: No Way Home co-writers recently told Empire Magazine (via ComicBook) about deleted Venom scenes, and even what they would have entailed. Co-writer Chris McKenna said:
So Eddie Brock makes it to the MCU but he never makes it out of a bar. But there were versions where he shows up earlier. We were going to try to have him show up at the Statue of Liberty [for the final fight], and we were even toying with having him stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel.
The coolest element of having Venom show up at the Statue of Liberty is that Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man might have recognized the symbiote, even though Eddie Brock’s interpretation of Venom looks absolutely nothing like the character Topher Grace played in Spider-Man 3. There’s also the fact that Hardy’s Venom did seem to recognize Tom Holland’s Spidey in the end credits scenes of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Still, including Venom and trying to give him a reason for wanting to fight these Spider-Men would have required too much explaining, so I’m happy they left Eddie Brock out of the main event.
Where Venom turns up next is anyone’s guess. Sony Pictures, which earns the rights to the character, is busy expanding out that universe with movies centered around other Spider-Man villains. Jared Leto’s Morbius was shredded by critics, but the supernatural vampire thriller still opened at the top of the box office charts. This means Morbius could show up in future movies, which will feature Kraven the Hunter (Aaron Taylor Johnson), Madame Web (Dakota Johnson), and whomever Sydney Sweeney is playing in the growing Spider-Man universe.
There are two dates circled on the release calendar for Sony that have been reserved for untitled Sony/Marvel movies, and one of them could (and should) be a third Venom movie. But until we know for certain, we’ll just keep speculating, and looking forward to all of the upcoming Marvel movies that are on the calendar.
