Kevin Feige has officially confirmed that Spider-Man is back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but what does that mean for his future? The House of Mouse and Sony have stopped throwing their toys out of the pram and settled their differences and will return Tom Holland’s wall-crawling hero to the bosom of the MCU.
With Peter Parker coming back to the roster of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Feige also gave us our biggest hint yet that Spidey will be part of Andy Serkis’ Venom 2. Here’s why that (probably) isn’t a good idea!
In a statement, the MCU bigwig cryptically explained: “[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.”
While Holland was MIA for Venom, Feige’s latest comments definitely imply he could cameo in the upcoming sequel. We already know Woody Harrelson will be back as the unhinged Cletus Kasady and presumably transform into Carnage to become the movie’s big bad. Holland’s involvement in Venom 2 would undoubtedly open the floodgates to his future in the Venom-Verse.
Whether Spidey will appear in anything more than a fleeting capacity remains to be seen, but here’s hoping they use Holland sparingly and confine him to a post-credits stinger to set up the future of the Venom-Verse. It would be far too easy to make Spider-Man a big part of Venom 2, but what would be the point of the movie.
Fans should remember Sony has branded its various villainous properties as the Venom-Verse, not the Spider-Verse. Alongside the Jared Leto-led Morbius having wrapped filming and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 already on the horizon, there are also tentative plans for movies focussing on Kraven the Hunter, Silver Sable, Black Cat, and even Madame Web.
The best thing the Venom-Verse can do is build its own group of anti-heroes and culminate in some sort of Suicide Squad-inspired outing that uses Holland like Ben Affleck bobbed in as Batman for David Ayer’s 2016 movie. For as long as I can remember, there have been rumours of a Sinister Six movie.
Marc Webb’s maligned The Amazing Spider-Man 2 got pretty close as its post-credits scene featured the likes of Doctor Octopus’ arms and Vulture’s wings — a deleted version even featured the return of Chris Cooper as the severed head of Norman Osborn.
Sony is clearly working toward something, and while it once looked the MCU could form its own Sinister Six movie with Michael Keaton’s Vulture, Michael Mando’s Scorpion, and possibly bring back Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio, those plans have likely changed.
Considering a Sinister Six movie would likely be sink or swim for Sony, those at the top need to learn how to use Holland to their advantage. It would be far too easy to pepper Peter Parker through every Venom-Verse movie, but there has to be a benefit. Fans undoubtedly love Holland as the friendly neighbourhood hero, but Venom proved you don’t necessarily need Spider-Man for a Spider-Man spin-off.
Finally, all it takes is one bad Sony movie with Holland attached and Spider-Man could face some serious flack. Yes, Venom was a box office behemoth, but it wasn’t exactly Oscar-worthy when it came to its critical response. Fandom is already split over the rest of the Venom-Verse’s upcoming movies, and including Spidey in all of them could tarnish his impressive reputation.
That being said, here’s hoping the Venom-Verse is working toward a live-action Spider-Verse movie that could unite the likes of Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire. Let’s not pretend this anything more than a pipe dream (for now).
[Originally via Student Problems]
Featured Image Credit: Sony/Marvel/Disney