Is Venom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Since the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home and Venom: Let There Be Carnage teased Venom/Eddie Brock’s appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it has seemed all but certain that Venom would eventually be making its way into the franchise. However, that may not be the case anymore. In fact, the fate of Spider-Man himself in the MCU is uncertain after Spider-Man: No Way Home’s release in theaters, and this extends to the symbiote villain Venom, as well.

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An extended cut of No Way Home is set to hit theaters later this year, and this film is set to include deleted scenes and other bonus content that did not appear in the first showing of the new fan favorite. This relates to Venom in that the developers of the movie were planning on adding a confrontation between him and Spider-Man at some point in the movie. However, in the original release of No Way Home, Eddie only appeared in a post-credits scene and left a small trace of the symbiote behind, which was effectively more an open-ended teaser rather than confirming anything concrete.

Here’s how the tease works between the two films: At the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Eddie and Venom are relaxing in what appears to be a run-down hotel room. However, suddenly, the entire scene changes, and the hotel room becomes pristine and well-managed again. Venom notices a news report on the television talking about the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man and instantly recognizes the friendly neighborhood figure (namely due to Venom’s extensive, multiversal hive-mind knowledge, meaning he could have potentially recognized him from Spider-Man 3), but the scene is interrupted by a regular person coming into the hotel room.

Later, at the end of No Way Home, Spider-Man enlists the aid of Doctor Strange to reset his universe into no longer knowing who Spider-Man really is, which is a necessary step because, in the previous movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Mysterio revealed Spider-Man’s identity and turned his world upside down. However, Strange’s original spell to accomplish this went wonky and brought all of Spider-Man’s previous enemies from across the film series, and both previous Spider-Men, into the world.

After managing to redeem or otherwise non-lethally subdue the villains who had once died fighting them, both previous Spider-Men go home, and Spider-Man is able to once again keep his identity and life a secret—though only by making the huge sacrifice that no one knows who Peter Parker himself is anymore, resulting in the multiversal travelers who’d been drawn to him finally being sent home. So where was Venom that whole time? Eddie then appears in a post-credits scene, still on vacation, but this time drinking at a bar, rather than fighting Spider-Man like all the others. When he finally decides to meet the universe’s Spider-Man, he gets pulled back into his own universe due to the ending of the movie before he can do anything, resulting in a tiny piece of the symbiote being left behind.

Eddie’s miniature cameo at the end of the film is more hilarious considering the director’s original intentions. The teaser at the end of Let there Be Carnage initially made everyone think that the Lethal Protector would cross paths with Spidey in his next feature film. However, the creative team behind the movie revealed in an interview that they’d been tossing the idea of Venom being in the movie around, but later removed him from the plot, which resulted in Eddie’s small cameo. This meant that a larger role for Venom was planned in No Way Home, but now that it’s gone, fans have been left puzzled about the character’s potential involvement with Spider-Man. However, the directors haven’t said they’ve completely left Venom out of the fray from here on out.

There generally isn’t much information out there about what the MCU has planned for Spidey and, by extension, Venom, but there will be more information most likely after the extended cut of No Way Home releases. Admittedly, the filmmakers have been somewhat quiet, but at this point, it’s mostly just a waiting game after the piece of symbiote left behind.

(featured image: Sony Pictures)

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