And in December, Sony CEO Tom Rothman rebutted Pascal’s statement, telling Variety that “my dear sister-in-arms, Amy, is a very optimistic person” but “nothing has been determined.” So until they come to a solid agreement on new terms, essentially yes, the Holland Spider-Man universe is on hold. 29, Sony chairperson Amy Pascal told Fandango that they’re planning the next trilogy of Spider-Man films with Holland, but Disney has not announced anything similar. 17 GQ profile, Holland mused that he doesn’t want to be playing Spider-Man when he’s 30.
Since then though, there’s been a series of mixed messages. If No Way Home reads as a send-off to Holland’s Spider-Man, it’s because in a sense it is: at the time of filming, Holland’s contract was ending. Sony and Disney originally agreed on six films: three standalone Spider-Man films, and three cameos in other MCU movies.
Hang on, is this Holland’s last Spider-Man film? Everything is pretty up in the air right now though, as talks are still underway on whether there will be more films featuring Holland. Maybe Venom will end up just finding a new host in the MCU, like a different Eddie, or Flash Thompson, or Peter Parker himself, just like in Marvel’s popular 1985 Secret Wars run. Yes, so the more likely answer to this conundrum is that while Hardy may not be a part of the MCU, the symbiote itself may not be out of the question. Considering the spell required an immense sacrifice on Peter’s part, it wouldn’t make much narrative sense to backtrack just for another Hardy cameo. Sure, that could change in the future, but right now it seems very purposeful that Eddie was sent back just like everyone else, right before Strange sealed everything back up. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has always stated that while Spider-Man is their joint baby, “adjunct” properties like Venom (and Morbius, most likely) are not interconnected with the MCU, even as Sony Pictures chairperson Amy Pascal claimed there was “always a chance” they could be.
The two corporate giants seem to constantly be in talks about this - their deal famously fell apart in 2019 before Holland himself literally begged them to patch things up - and as a result the two companies haven’t always been on the same page when it comes to telling fans what’s next.Įssentially, while Venom’s post-credits scene hinted that Hardy’s Eddie is now part of the MCU, No Way Home’s companion scene tells us that he probably is…not.
The deal is a quid-pro-quo situation, meaning that if Spider-Man appears in the MCU, then the MCU loans out one of its characters for the standalone Spider-Man films, like Iron Man and now Doctor Strange. It all goes back to Sony and Disney’s 2014 “content licensing agreement” that decides how Spider-Man and his buddies get to appear in the MCU. But a drop of Venom’s symbiote goo gets left behind, and it moves before the screen cuts to black.ĭoes that mean that Venom is really part of the MCU now? He’s asking the bartender to tell him about the “super people” who live here, and expresses doubt that Thanos really existed - to which the bartender rebuts, “Señor, he made my family disappear for five years.” Just as Eddie decides that he should go to New York City to talk to said super people, he’s summoned back to his own world, just like all the other characters who came waltzing through as a result of Doctor Strange’s botched spell.
Here, we catch up with Eddie, who’s drinking and doing his signature incomprehensible mumble (subtitles on all films WHEN) with a bartender at a divey-looking bar. In No Way Home’s first post-credits scene, we see a continuation of a moment that actually began in Venom: Let There Be Carnage’s post-credits - which showed the moment Doctor Strange’s spell teleported Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock into the MCU.