From Bucky Barnes to John Cena, the internet has offered an array of candidates for who could inherit the Captain America title after Chris Evans hangs up the shield, but this new theory stands out for its originality by suggesting that Steve Rogers’ effective replacement could be a character who already goes by a famous enough stage name: Venom.
Though this lengthy piece from Screen Rant doesn’t literally suggest that Eddie Brock might adopt Cap’s title and wear the same patriotic colors, the article does make the case that Tom Hardy’s antihero could fill the void left by Evans as a principled hero who collaborates with S.H.I.E.L.D.
To back up this argument, the post observes how Ruben Fleischer’s film essentially painted Venom as a troubled do-gooder rather than the villain that he once was, and draws on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s history in the comics of trying to create further Super Soldiers using symbiotes. From here, it’s concluded that perhaps Phil Coulson and his peers would see value in recruiting a relatively successful version of their experiments after Steve makes his expected exit.
Overall, the theory makes for an interesting enough flight of fancy, though it’s unlikely that many fans will take this line of speculation seriously. For one thing, Eddie’s first solo outing looks to take place in a separate world from the MCU, but even if Marvel Studios were willing to try a messy retcon of the character, Sony will likely be keeping their symbiote occupied for a while, with a Venom sequel almost certainly on the way.
In fact, now that the film has exceeded expectations at the box office, you could argue that the MCU crossover ship has already sailed, since Sony seems very much on course to build up their own cinematic universe around Eddie. As for what’s next for Cap and S.H.I.E.L.D., we’ll likely be getting some answers when Avengers 4 comes out on May 3rd, 2019.