Marvel Studios may have just teased Spider-Man 5's villain in the most unexpected of places. The studio, alongside Sony Pictures, notched its biggest success in years with Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which surpassed $2 billion at the box office. One major reason Tom Holland's fourth Spidey movie was so well received was its villain, Jean Grey, played by Sadie Sink, who did a spectacular job in the role. In light of this, Marvel and Sony might have another compelling antagonist planned for their next Holland-led film.
Sony Pictures Australia shared a new Brand New Day poster on X, and fans were quick to spot a gooey black substance under Spider-Man's boot that looked like the Venom symbiote. Notably, the artwork began as fan art from popular Australian artist BossLogic. The original was littered with Easter eggs, several of which Sony altered in the official version. For example, a "Nelson & Murdock: Attorneys at Law" business card, a reference to Daredevil, was scrubbed from the final design.
The studio went out of its way to remove many spoiler references in that poster but left the symbiote untouched, which feels like an intentional decision and a tease for what comes next in the web-crawler's story. Also, the sheer level of detail in the substance makes it unlikely to be anything other than the symbiote blob Eddie Brock left behind in No Way Home.
Even if there's an argument that it's random black material, the note pinned next to it, a piece of Peter's message to MJ, reads, "We were together." The symbiote often speaks in phrases like that, since it sees itself as a unified whole with its host. That level of detail is too specific to be random.
For context, No Way Home's post-credits scene pulled Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock back to his own universe, but not before he left a small piece of the Venom symbiote behind in the MCU and never revisited it. Venom: The Last Dance did make quite a mess of that scene. It is therefore understandable that the MCU chose not to follow up on it.
The timing of the poster is also notable, given where the MCU is headed. Brand New Day's post-credits scene placed Spider-Man somewhere in outer space, with Ned's Spidey Tracker app logging a sighting of the hero well beyond Earth. Placing the webslinger elsewhere in the cosmos aligns neatly with the idea that his next movie will feature extraterrestrial elements.
The Symbiote Featuring in Spider-Man 5 Is More Likely Than Fans Imagine
The symbiote in the poster could be a mere tease that goes nowhere, but its appearance in the next Tom Holland Spider-Man movie is plausible beyond the artwork. The MCU is heading for its two-part Multiverse Saga finale, Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Holland is likely to skip the first of the two, since he hasn't been confirmed in any of Marvel's cast announcements.
However, the Russo brothers are doing reshoots for Doomsday, so Holland could appear after all. Even if he doesn't feature in the Doctor Doom flick, his participation in Secret Wars is all but guaranteed. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently confirmed that these films are inspired by the Time Runs Out and Secret Wars comic book storylines, and the original Secret Wars comic is where the symbiote's story began.
In that 1984 storyline, the Beyonder transported Marvel's heroes and villains to a distant planet called Battleworld. When Peter's costume sustained heavy damage in battle, he used an alien machine to replace it, unknowingly releasing a living creature.
This became his new black suit, and the rest is history. If Marvel wants to honor that moment, the Secret Wars film is the perfect avenue. And if the movie does make this introduction, that thread is almost guaranteed to be explored further in Spider-Man 5. That being said, this is only a theory, and Marvel could go in a different direction with both projects. The next Spidey movie could even explore the Sinister Six rather than the symbiote, especially since Brand New Day introduced villains integral to that team.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
