Many fans wonder if popular Spider-Man villain Venom may appear in theaters again, and his designer has some thoughts on the matter.
Todd McFarlane is the former Marvel Comics designer of Venom's first full appearance and founder of Image Comics and McFarlane Toys. Since Venom's inception on the page, the anti-hero has become an instantly recognizable superhero antagonist. He was first adapted on screen by Topher Grace in 2007's Spider-Man 3 and again in a trilogy of films that ran from 2018 to 2024 by Tom Hardy.
Todd McFarlane spoke with The Direct's Pamela Gores during his guest appearance at MEGACON Orlando 2025 about his thoughts on Venom's current movie predicament and another impressive IP at Image Comics: Invincible.
Venom Creator Discusses Famous Symbiote Potentially Entering the MCU
Now that Venom is supposedly dormant within the larger movie realm, fans and viewers are itching to see where he'll pop up next. With the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man 4 quickly on the horizon, most eyes turn there, hoping the MCU's Spider-Man may finally don the black suit.
"Could Venom Be One of the Bad Guys or Good Guys?"
- The Direct: "With Venom, I think a lot of people realize it's not the end of seeing him in the media, TV shows, and movies. You name it. He's stood the test of time and is going to continue to stand the test of time. And I assume many people automatically go, 'Oh, well, he's probably going to pop up in a Marvel Studios movie now. Where else is he going to go?' I don't know if you've thought about that at all, but if Venom were to go into the MCU, how do you visualize that? How would you want Marvel Studios to tackle Venom?"
Todd McFarlane: I'll answer strictly from a fan point of view. Because again, you know, Sony has the rights to Venom, and then the MCU's over under the Disney banner. I think that people who are comic book geeks understand that Venom and Spider-Man are connected pretty tight.
So, Spider-Man's over there playing around with the Avengers, then could Spider-Man and Venom ever interact, first off? Sony hasn't even put Spider-Man and Venom together, and they have the rights to both of them. So forget Disney at this point. Sony hasn't done it.
McFarlane sees the inevitable meeting of the MCU's Spider-Man and Venom as "a natural progression from a geek point of view." However, he raises a good point: Will the two fight or be forced to join forces to face a different threat?
Todd McFarlane: But my guess is that if they ever do it, which everybody is begging for because it's a natural progression from a geek point of view that you just go, 'Of course, Spider-Man has to meet Venom someday.' And then after that, from a fan point of view, go, 'Oh, well, Spider-Man also interacts with all these other characters over in the MCU, so could Venom be one of the bad guys or good guys, or could he join one of the teams.? I don't know.
Calling back to the early days of dream team-ups, McFarlane reiterated the importance of keeping in mind who owns the rights to which characters (something that has been a hot topic amid Marvel Studios and Sony for some time now):
Todd McFarlane: As fans, we do that all the time. Right? I mean, I've been doing that since I was a kid. Like, if I saw Dracula and I saw Frankenstein man, wouldn't it be cool if they got together? And then finally they did. They put them in the same film. What we don't pay attention to as fans is, who owns the rights to these different ones?
Because if you try to take somebody from Paramount, and cross them over with somebody from Warner Brothers, it would be super cool, those two characters, whoever they may be. There's a big complication, because you've got two big giant conglomerates, and they're both like, 'Well, why should we share this? And how do we get the money?' And it gets really frustratingly complicated from a fan point of view.
Despite the hurdles, McFarlane shares what is likely a common final thought among fans: "Give us Spider-Man and Venom standing next to each other:"
Todd McFarlane: But given that, there's Spider-Man movies and Venom movies, then, we'll just take the low hanging fruit. Give us Spider-Man and Venom standing next to each other.
Considering Spider-Man 4 is still slated to debut next summer, an inkling of whether Venom (or other symbiotes) will play a role in the film could make its way to the surface sooner rather than later. Worst case scenario, there is bound to be room in the expectedly-stacked Avengers combo of Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Reflecting on Invincible's Success & Upcoming New Comic Release
"You Need More in Your Diet Other than Pure Superhero Comics."
Following his time at Marvel and DC, McFarlane poured his efforts into founding Image Comics, the third-largest comic book publisher worldwide. This is partially due to the company's array of hit franchises, including Invincible. Robert Kirkman, who also created The Walking Dead, has seen immense success in the Invincible comic books and the ongoing animated series on Amazon Prime Video.
The Invincible universe on-page is expanding later this year with the release of Invincible Universe: Battle Beast, which McFarlane briefly spoke on.
- The Direct: "I want to talk about Image Comics a little bit. Your pride and joy. The third biggest comic book publisher in the world still. And I think that's because you have so many successful series under your belt, not just Spawn. You have so much to be proud of that you've built over the years, and the first one that comes to my mind is Invincible. It's crazy to see how the comics and now the animated show have blown up. It's its own thing in pop culture. We're getting a new series later this year: Invincible Universe: Battle Beast. A lot of people are very excited, so I wanted to ask if you could tease how that series is going to expand the Invincible universe."
Todd McFarlane: Invincible is a comic book from the the brain of Robert Kirkman. Robert Kirkman is also the the creator behind The Walking Dead So he's already got a giant phenomenon in his portfolio. I think Hollywood was asking him, 'What else do you have?'
I mean, AMC's got Walking Dead all locked up. And he had, to his credit, this 120 issue run of this book that had a lot of good critical acclaim and good sales in his portfolio. It wasn't, like, five issues. He had 120 issues of it. And so he was able to make a deal with Amazon.
Reflecting on Invincible's success, McFarlane believes the concept of it initially "surprised the executives at Amazon." Now, however, the company is likely seeking more of the franchise:
Todd McFarlane: I don't think they quite knew what they had. They're like, 'Superhero cartoons that are R-rated. It doesn't make much sense right now, Robert.' I've talked to Robert before and he goes, 'Todd, I remember when Spawn came out it was super cool, but there wasn't nearly as much R-rated animation back when Spawn first came out.' Now it's like, 'Oh, what can we do to do it again?' Adult animation there, which is a lot more prevalent.
And [Robert] basically decided to be as true to the comic book as possible, because it can be sophisticated, harsh, and violent. I hope I'm not speaking out of school, but I think it surprised the executives at Amazon. If they were like, 'We thought this thing was gonna come and people are gonna go. This is silly and walk away.' And now they realize. And I would say this is true in a lot of areas that sometimes the old stodgy execs are the last ones to understand fandom and geeks. Once you have something that works. then the next obvious step is to go, 'How do we get more of it?'
Though viewers have been graced with the return of Battle Beast on screen, the Invincible Universe: Battle Beast comic run will spotlight the character more so. McFarlane is nothing but happy for collaborator Kirkman:
Todd McFarlane: So to your point, they're gonna expand that universe. Why not, right? It worked. It worked once when they kept sort of expanding some of the characters and some things they were doing for the Walking Dead. But now Amazon, I'm sure, is going to try it for Invincible, so good on him.
McFarlane then elaborated on why he thinks Image Comics succeeds apart from its superhero offerings, citing that "as you get just a little bit older, you need more in your diet other than pure superhero comics:"
Todd McFarlane: Image Comic usually does between 60 to 70 comic books a month, and they're very eclectic. Everything from traditional superhero stuff, which is what I do, because that was from the beginning. But the arc of Image Comic has gotten further away from superhero stuff for the most part, and we do a lot of just cool, non-traditional, eclectic books that people just dig.
I think Image Comics is a place where, as you get just a little bit older, you need more in your diet other than pure superhero comics. If you just want superhero comics, Marvel and DC will supply that to you in spades. They do a really good job at it.
But if you're looking for something just a little bit more R-rated, more sophisticated, that's growing up with you in terms of the content as you get older, then I'm quite proud of the number of books that we put out that fall into that category.
I think it's, as a matter of fact, a huge part of our success, not the books that started us, Spawn being one of them. It's the books that have come after that have really sort of given us our company identity.
As the founder of Image Comics, The Direct asked McFarlane what he was on the lookout for at MEGACON Orlando among its many vendors, artists, and exhibits. Rather than buying goods, he said he's "looking for talent:"
Todd McFarlane: I'm not really concerned about buying something for myself. Although I'm trying to look for something. I'm shopping for something for myself. What I'm trying to technically buy is the creative people. I go up and down Artist alley to sort of say, 'I wonder if I can find people that will want to work on my books and that are just brilliant.' Creative people, whether they're writers, artists, colors, or whatever. I'm looking for talent when I'm going up and down.
McFarlane revealed that he's seeking to give artists a shot by offering them work at Image Comics, saying "it's really fun" to help boost talent that inevitably ends up becoming stars in their own right:
Todd McFarlane: And every now and then, you find somebody. And you go, 'Hey? What do you do? What are you doing? Are you happy where you're working at? Do you have any interest in doing something for Spawn?' And sometimes you come across somebody who goes, 'Hey, I'm just writing up this book for Marvel or DC.' They're new talent that hasn't been afforded the big opportunity. And I go, 'Shoot. You want to come do some stuff for me?' I'm collecting talent. It's really fun.
There's probably three or four people at MEGACON that I saw on the list that are people that I gave their big break to. And then they were able to expand from that because we have a lot of eyeballs looking at our books. And the competition is looking at our books, too.
The chance to give an artist that big break at a convention like MEGACON Orlando is not lost on McFarlane. Having tried to do so for four decades, he still notes the significance of it:
Todd McFarlane: So if I put somebody on one of my books or I put them on a cover, if they're pretty solid, usually they get a phone call from a competitor saying, 'Hey, we just saw that Spawn cover. You want to do a Batman cover? You want to do a Wolverine cover?' Bang! All of a sudden, they become in demand.
Some of them have built pretty good reputations. Look at somebody giving me my first job and affording me that opportunity to then say, 'Oh, I'm all you're looking for.' When your talent is, 'Put me on the field, coach. Just let me play the game, and I'll show you how good I can be or not.' I begged for that opportunity, and finally somebody gave it to me.
I've been fortunate enough that I've been able to keep that going for almost 40 years now. I like to sort of do it for other folks if I can, because I know how meaningful it can be to get that first opportunity.
McFarlane wistfully referred to himself as "a proud papa, [getting] to watch my kids grow up" as the next generation of comic book artists leave their mark:
Todd McFarlane: So not only am I looking for the established pros that may be tired with where they're working right now, I'm also looking for that young hungry person that is, to me, that close to being a superstar. I look for the diamonds in the rough before anybody else hopefully finds them so. The thing is, it's on them. It's really interesting.
I've had lots of them say, 'Todd, I'm so thankful.' I appreciate that to a certain point. But if they didn't have the work ethic and the skill and the talent, it wouldn't have worked. I was just smart enough to give them the opportunity. But everything that's come out of their career, for the most part, is because of them, and their skill set.
Somebody was going to discover them anyways, they were too good to be hidden. I play a small part in it, and then, like a proud papa, I get to watch my kids grow up and go, 'Oh, man, I knew them when they were only this big. They're super. And now look at them. They're big shots.'
Venom is streaming on Disney+, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is on Starz, and Venom: The Last Dance streams on Netflix beginning Tuesday, February 25.
Invincible is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Could the worlds of Invincible and Marvel collide? Read about how one star from the animated show is advocating to join the MCU in a big way.
