[Editor’s note: The following containsspoilersforVenom: Let There Be Carnage.]
When Marvel said there’d be a Multiverse, theymeanta Multiverse, and in a scenario that seemed extremely unlikelyjust two years ago, it appears that concept spans not just comic book realities but also real-life movie studios.Venom: Let There Be Carnageis roughly 75 minutes long, moves at the pace of an especially medicated fever dream, and is more than 80% devoted toTom Hardybeing madly in love with his homicidal space alien best bud. It’s wonderful. But, in many ways, the actual bulk of the film feels like an appetizer for its mid-credits scene, which significantly expands both the MCU and the SPUMC, setting up a big-screen crossover of monumental proportions. Full on, tongues-outcarnagespoilers to follow.
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After defeating Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) and his Carnage counterpart, Eddie Brock (Hardy) and Venom (also Hardy) have booked it out of San Francisco, laying low and, like many older married couples, whiling away the hours watching bad TV and debating which of them is smarter. “Eighty-billion light-years of hive knowledge across universes would explode your tiny little brain,” Venom says, and whether it’s simply a coincidence or the cause itself, the moment Venom tries to give Eddie a glimpse of what’s going on inside his head, everything…changes. Eddie and Venom are transported to another reality, arriving at the exact moment that concludedSpider-Man: Far From Home, in which J. Jonah Jameson (JK Simmons) outs Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as Spider-Man. “That guy,” Venom says, licking the TV screen as Holland’s face appears in a move relatable to thousands. With that, it’s official.
Venom has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
WhenVenomhit theaters in 2018, solely a Sony production with nary a hint or mention of Peter Parker, there was always going to be a need to discuss the spider in the room. As a character, Venom doesn’t really make sense without Spider-Man; he was created by writerDavid Michelinieand artistTodd McFarlaneas a dark mirror image of the web-slinger. It’s why helookslike a bigger, scarier version of Spider-Man. No matter how good or bad or in-betweenRuben Fleischer’s film turned out to be, it was always going to be at least a bit of a bummer with Spider-Man, doubly so because we all knew the thing holding the cross-over back was the boring behind-the-scenes of which studio owns which character.
WithLet There Be Carnagefront-kicking the door between studios off its hinges, the question is no longer if we’ll ever see Holland’s Spider-Man and Hardy’s Venom meet, butwhen. The MCU’s Phase 4 offers two tantalizing, obvious options:
1.Spider-Man: No Way Home- I mean, yeah. We already know from the first trailer—plus mountains of casting rumors piled on top of poorAndrew Garfield’s inability to believably lie—that Holland’s third solo Spider-Man movie is going to jam several decades' worth of comic book movie universes together, regardless of which studio owns who.Alfred Molinais back as Doctor Octopus.Willem Dafoe(in voice, at least), is back as Green Goblin. There’s like, a 99% certainty both Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parkers are going to show up. You simply cannot have a universe-hopping Spider-Man jamboree of this size without Venom, and since theLet There Be Carnagecredits scene just deposited him on the MCU’s doorstep—with no way home in sight, I might add—it seems pretty likely we’ll be gifted with Tom Holland reacting to the endlessly sweaty full-body freakout that is Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock as soon as December 17.
2.Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness: It is, to be fair, right there in the title. Venom sticking around in the MCU long enough to also appear inBenedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange sequel would be exciting for several reasons, but the one that warms my heart the most isSam Raimigetting a second crack at the character. The pros and cons of the filmmaker’sSpider-Man 3need no rehashing, outside the fact that it’s aggressively overcrowded. A large part of that is down to Sony insisting Venom appear—Raimi wanted to focus onThomas Haden Church’s Sandman—resulting in a version of arguably Spidey’s biggest foe that felt rushed, underbaked, and inexplicably played byTopher Grace. Raimi coming back to comic book movies 15 years later and getting to try Venom again is a redemption tale for the ages.
After that? The sky’s the limit at this point, butrecent reportshint that Sony’s endgame for its Venom/MCU crossover is aSinister Sixmovie, an idea that’s been off-and-on for the studio since at least 2013. Things feel as concrete on that front now as they have in years, with versions of Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Sandman, and Electro all hovering aroundSpider-Man: No Way Home, aKraven the Huntermovieconfirmed at SonywithAaron Taylor-Johnsonin the lead, and thisLet There Be Carnagecredits scene opening the door for Spider-Man himself to swing between studios. It should be noted as well that Tom Hardy, bless him,already has ideasforVenom 3.
Oh, also,Morbius.Morbiusis debuting on August 19, 2025. Please keep it in the back of your mind that, as multiverses collide and epic crossovers happen at a rapid rate, at some pointJared Letois going to appear as a vampire. You simply cannot forget about Morbius.
KEEP READING:Tom Hardy Already Has Plans for ‘Venom 3’ and Wants to Fight Tom Holland’s Spider-Man
