Spider-Man: No Way Home’s post-credits scene finally gets addressed.
Venom: The Last Dance’s latest clip hints that the Sony Marvel movie might end up closing the loop on an MCU plot thread. Tom Hardy and Venom are back for one last ride and maybe it can open the door to that showdown with Spider-Man. The trailer shows both the humans in the Sony Marvel universe and Knull, a symbiote deity, trying to get a hold of Venom. If the villain gets Eddie Brock’s best friend, it will be the end of his world. However, there’s one little quirk that should prove to be a problem for Knull, all of Venom isn’t in that reality.
2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home concluded with Peter Parker all on his own. Tom Holland’s Avenger is staring down some serious loneliness now that he has no friends. In addition, we know the Venom symbiote is just crawling across the MCU looking for him as it had a relationship with other Peter Parkers in the multiverse. This is all going to bring him into direct conflict with both Eddie Brock and Knull. If the villain succeeds at the end of the new Venom movie, he’ll set his sights on the MCU to get the remaining symbiote to rule over every reality.
Spider-Man 4 Director Announcement Comes Into Focus
Earlier this week it was reported that Marvel Studios and Sony had tabbed Dustin Daniel Cretton to helm Spider-Man 4. Tom Holland is set to return as Peter Parker in the first movie of his new tenure with Marvel. Picking the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings seems like a curious choice. After all, he’s already got chunky too and Naruto on his plate headed into 2025. But, if Knull is the main villain of the movie, Spider-Man’s probably going to need some help.
Having Shang-Chi, and possibly Captain Marvel, there to lend a helping hand at his lowest point would satisfy the Marvel fans that feel like these heroes haven’t gotten a chance to meet each other yet. In addition, it sets the table for more multiversal villains to get on their Avengers’ radar ahead of Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Maybe most importantly, It helps kick off the black suit saga for the inevitable moment in Secret Wars where Reed Richards helps Spider-Man revert back to his old costume.
A popular tweet from Alex Perez over at My Cosmic Circus seems to argue that Knull isn’t going to be a one-and-done villain for Sony’s projects. So, we’ll have to see how that shakes out. If Knull is really going around universes taking Symbiotes, you could have the motivation for Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man variants to enter the fray again as well. (Poor Peter 3’s first tussle with aliens could result in his world ending!)
Spider-Man 4 Tapping Into The Multiverse Again
Not to kick up the dust from old fandom wars at this point, but these developments would lend credence to the idea that Sony liked the idea of Spider-Man 4 as a multiverse adventure. Knull is a big enough deal in the comics to be an “Avengers-level threat.” So, summoning multiple Spider-Men and these other MCU heroes isn’t all that far-fetched. In addition, get ready for this scale of spectacle in the Marvel movies with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom just lurking around.
It’s been a phase and a half of Marvel movies with a significant number of online commenters asking where the Avengers have been. No, it’s not the street-level story focusing on Daredevil and a street war against Kingpin. (Yes, we know that is a popular pick for what people argue for Spider-Man 4 being. But, the tea leaves are murky at best on what the plan is at this point.) This route would give you a rollicking battle with all the Avengers ready for things to hit the fan during the later conflicts.
Also, Spider-Man: No Way Home’s big post-credits scene gets paid off in wild fashion that would cross that cliffhanger off the list. People going to these movies have been waiting to see Venom fight Spider-Man and they might be closer to that reality than they could have possibly dreamed. Tom Hardy has been pushing for it himself and with the multiverse wide open, it’s time for the back suit saga to get a little twist.
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