Avengers: Doomsday has a spider-sized hole in its heart. Despite leading one of the highest-grossing movies of all time in 2026, Tom Holland's Wall-Crawler appears to be on the bench for the rest of the year. But rumor has it that he'll be back in Avengers: Secret Wars, a movie that could place him at center stage, especially if it utilizes a special symbiote character with a knack for knocking its enemies down a peg.
While Doomsday might be without Earth-616's Spider-Man, it may have something else up its web-slinger. Reports from all corners of the internet place Tobey Maguire's hero at the scene of the crime, teasing an epic fight to come for the elder statesman in Marvel Studios' next team-up movie. And that may not even be all she wrote for the original big-screen Spider-Man. The Cosmic Circus reported earlier in 2026 that Maguire will return in Secret Wars without providing specifics about his character's place in the film's story.
Following the breadcrumbs leads to another report from insider DanielRPK, who explained that his sources say Holland also has a role in Secret Wars. Two Spider-Men in one Avengers movie sounds too good to be true, unless the powers that be are planning to make Peter Parker the key to everything. It would be a smart move, given how much Spider-Man: Brand New Day took home from the box office. However, money might not be the only motivator because there are plenty of practical reasons to push New York's finest hero to the front of the line.
Marvel Studios has done a good job keeping its cards close to the vest when it comes to Doomsday's plot. But it's hard to imagine a world in which the movie doesn't end with the creation of Battleworld, a reality built from broken parts of the multiverse. Doctor Doom completed work on his version of Battleworld ahead of 2015's Secret Wars event in Marvel Comics and included a location called Spider-Island, ruled by the evil Spider-Queen.
All the inhabitants of Spider-Island were infected with a spider-virus that didn't do them any favors. Spider-Man and other heroes rebelled against the Spider-Queen and liberated the island. Maybe Maguire, Holland, and even Andrew Garfield, if he's up for it, can suit up again and have all three live-action Peter Parkers follow in their comic book counterpart's footsteps. A sequence like that would ensure that Secret Wars earns its title. And the movie could take it a step further by including a symbiote.
In the original Secret Wars comic, Spider-Man's costume got damaged, forcing him to don a black one he picked up on Battleworld. Of course, the hero's new outfit turned out to be a symbiote that altered his personality and made him more prone to violent outbursts. Peter got rid of it as soon as he could, and it merged with Eddie Brock, creating Venom.
Eddie's story has played out twice already on the big screen. And while Holland's Spider-Man has yet to tangle with Venom, the MCU runs the risk of covering familiar ground if it introduces the villain. Instead, Marvel Studios should consider asking Sony to borrow a different symbiote with a unique powerset: Anti-Venom.
The symbiote was created in the comics when remnants of Venom fused with Eddie's white blood cells following his run-in with Martin Li, aka Mister Negative, who cured him of cancer using his Lightforce Energy. Eddie had total control while in his Anti-Venom form and could even cure others. As an added bonus, Anti-Venom had none of Venom's weaknesses and was immune to Spider-Man's Spidey-Sense.
To put it plainly, Anti-Venom is everything that Venom is not. And that makes it the perfect fit for the MCU, as crossing paths with it will allow Holland's Spider-Man to continue on the unparalleled path that he's on.
Avengers: Secret Wars Is the Perfect Project to Set Up Anti-Venom
If Avengers: Secret Wars includes Spider-Island, it's going to have to condense a major comic arc in order to check all the boxes it needs to. Maybe it takes the same approach with the Symbiote Saga, running through it quickly because the audience isn't unfamiliar with it. By the end of the movie, Earth-616's Peter can put Venom behind him and return home with a new foe to face, one born from one he just defeated.
Swinging to Anti-Venom so quickly would certainly take some expert maneuvering by Marvel Studios. However, the outcome would be worth all the effort. Anti-Venom can act as New York's latest savior in Spider-Man 5 or beyond, curing terminally ill people and saving cats out of trees, before revealing the truth about its creation. All that sets the stage for an epic battle where the titular hero faces off against an enemy that knows his every move and how to counter them. That's the only way to up the ante after Spider-Man faced off against Jean Grey and the Hulk.
