Warning - This article contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
While Eternals might be the next film on the docket for Marvel Studios, there's another whose hype exceeds extraordinary heights: Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Peter Parker's next adventure is set to explore his now turned-upsidedown-life, and his attempt to fix everything that Mysterio ruined. Based on the first trailer, it all goes horribly wrong, and the consequences involve bringing past villains from previous installments in the franchise - villains such as Alfred Molina's Doc Ock.
Other rumored villains set to join the fight include Willem Dafoe's Green Golbin, Jamie Foxx's Electro, and Thomas Haden Church's Sandman—and they aren't the last of it. Needless to say, Tom Holland's webslinger is going to have his hands full.
While the film didn't take place in the MCU, another Spidey villain just had his own outing with Venom: Let There Be Carnage: Eddie Brock, aka Venom. Most of the character's time was spent dealing with the murderous Carnage, but the end of the film held a massive surprise for fans.
Collective minds around the world were blown when the movie's after-credits scene revealed that Tom Hardy's Venom is now in the MCU. While it's not clear how it happened, it seems pretty likely that it is connected to whatever brought all of the other villains over.
So how did the whole thing come together?
Confirmed Coordination Between Venom and No Way Home
At the Eternals world premiere, The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige about that massive mid-credits scene for Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Feige noted that in order to pull it off, "there was a lot of coordination," and that the teams behind Venom 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home "worked together on it:"
“There was a lot of coordination — and if you don’t know all the coordination yet, I’m not going to be the one to tell you — but yes, between Sony and Marvel and the Venom team and the No Way Home team... We worked together on it.”
Feige Confirms His Hands Have Touched Venom
With this news, most people's thoughts are probably quick to the conclusion that this all but confirms Tom Hardy's Venom in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It's completely understandable for someone to run with that train of thought.
However, the symbiote's involvement is not a certainty. There have been lots of villains rumored for the film throughout the last year, and almost none of them included the likes of Venom joining the party. The villain also has no established connection or story with Spider-Man; that would be a lot to have to set up while so many other things are going on.
In the end, this is all very likely to be set up for a film solely focused on Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Tom Hardy's Venom. With the symbiote being one of Sony's biggest franchises, the studio likely wants him to be in just as much of the spotlight as Holland—something which would not be achieved if the villain were to join the already crowded film that is Spider-Man: No Way Home.
While the future of Venom may be unclear, Spider-Man's next film will be hitting theaters on December 17 later this year.
