The long-running will they/won’t they between Marvel Studios and Sony regarding the future of Spider-Man has finally been resolved, much to the delight of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s fanbase, and while the intricacies and finer details of the new agreement have already been revealed, there are still just as many questions about future Spidey projects as there were before.
While Tom Holland’s Peter Parker will remain a part of the MCU going forward, how the character factors into Sony’s own Marvel universe isn’t quite so clear. It seems increasingly likely that the long-rumored crossover that sees Spider-Man and Venom go head-to-head will become a reality sooner rather than later, but could Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock go the other way and turn up in the MCU at some point?
When announcing the new Sony deal, Kevin Feige essentially admitted that Spider-Man would be contractually obligated to play a part in Sony’s movies without his control, but he may have also sown the seeds for having their characters appear under the Marvel Studios banner, saying:
“Spider-Man also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-Verse you never know what surprises the future might hold.”
Marvel Studios certainly don’t need to integrate Sony’s comic book characters into the MCU, but if Feige was interested in bringing any of them in, then Venom would likely be the top priority. The new agreement will see Spider-Man flit back-and-forth across the two universes, so it would make business sense for Marvel to negotiate some kind of deal that would see the two studios agree on some trading.
Venom and Spider-Man obviously have a long comic book history, and Tom Holland has expressed his desire to star alongside Tom Hardy, so we could potentially see the two either teaming up or facing off in both the MCU and the Sony-verse. In fact, with the new agreement signed, sealed and delivered, Holland making a cameo in Venom 2 seems nothing short of inevitable.