The following article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
When the Venom: Let There Be Carnage post-credit scene introduced Venom and Eddie Brock into the MCU, fans went absolutely crazy with their theories, coming up with potential storylines for a Venom and Spider-Man crossover, while speculating whether or not the two would be friends or foes during their next on-screen encounter. As it turns out, the symbiote and his human host were only in the MCU for the duration of Spider-Man: No Way Home, since Strange sent all the MCU infiltrators back to their respective timelines at the end of the third movie...or did he?
Even though Eddie and Venom weren’t causing problems for Peter Parker during No Way Home, their “real” place in the world is amongst the Sony Spider-Verse created separately from the MCU’s main timeline. When Strange performed the spell to send the timeline jumpers home, Eddie and Venom were (mostly) sent back to their own universe. However, just before the scene ends, fans can see a small pile of symbiote goo resting on the table where Eddie and Venom were sat, just before being teleported out of the MCU.
This could very well be hinting at Venom setting up a more permanent residence in the MCU timeline, so fans shouldn’t give up hope for that Venom/Spider-Man crossover just yet. A multiversal theory proposed before the release of No Way Home suggested that Venom was aware of the fact that Spider-Man’s true name is Peter Parker, because of a hive mind consciousness shared between all symbiotes across various universes. No Way Home confirmed this theory to be true, since all of the timeline jumpers were people who knew Spider-Man’s true identity, in one world or another.
This means that Tom Hardy’s Venom knows Tom Holland’s Spider-Man/Peter Parker, because of the battle between Topher Grace’s Venom and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man/Peter Parker that took place in the early 2000s. It also means that there are a number Venom variants capable of bonding with different Eddie Brock variants, carrying this unusual human and alien duo all throughout the multiverse. So what does this mean for Venom, in terms of his future role in the MCU?
As much as fans would love to see Hardy continue playing the role of Eddie and Venom in the MCU, the removal of his character from the universe during No Way Home’s post-credit scene leaves the role open for someone else. Symbiotes can reproduce on their own and evolve significantly, based on what they learn from the world around them.
These two factors alone illustrate that the tiny piece of Venom left in the MCU is fully capable of transforming itself into a fully-fledged alien beast. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that Hardy’s Venom will continue to exist in the Sony universe, while a new actor plays Eddie and Venom in the Marvel universe, as the small blob grows into a head-chomping monster.
However, the introduction of all three Spider-Man and numerous other villains during No Way Home means it’s also reasonable to assume that Hardy’s Venom will find his way back to the MCU. Now that the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer has dropped, fans have been given some more insight into what’s to come from the film, and the movie will certainly open some more holes in the fabric of the multiverse. This might be the doorway that allows Hardy’s Eddie to reenter the MCU and collect the last piece of symbiote matter that Venom left behind.
Alternatively, perhaps leaving that small piece of himself in the MCU, traveling between worlds will become much easier for Eddie and Venom, and the duo will be able to make their way back without any additional assistance. Venom dropped plenty of hints to Eddie during the Let There Be Carnage post-credit scene that symbiotes know way more than the human mind can comprehend and even Doctor Strange doesn’t have a major grasp over multiversal concepts.
There’s a big chance that Venom knows much more about traveling through the multiverse than he lets on. At the very least, Venom seems to get the concept of it all much easier than Eddie does, which was revealed during No Way Home, while the two of them bickered over Eddie’s inability to understand what goes down in the MCU.
Or maybe, just maybe, fans will get to see Venom bond with Spider-Man. Eddie and Venom didn’t seem to be harboring any major hostility towards Holland’s Spider-Man, and the No Way Home post-credit scene surely made it seem like they were looking to Peter Parker for multiverse advice. Any of the scenarios above are possible, but the events of a future crossover film will surely be influenced by whether or not Spidey and Venom are on good terms in the MCU.
