A lot of Marvel fans are waiting for the moment they get to see Venom and Spider-Man cross paths on screen. Given Sony and Marvel’s dual ownership of the Spider-Man character, and the new Venom: Let There Be Carnage sequel coming out next month, there’s definitely a good chance that these two will come face to face somewhere down the line.
However, there’s a time and a place for everything, and rushing into a film like this could leave viewers majorly disappointed. Marvel fans have had high hopes for projects in the past, only to be left feeling unsatisfied when the end result didn’t live up to their expectations. A Spider-Man and Venom crossover in the MCU would be a huge deal for the characters and fans alike, especially for those who watched this rivalry unfold in Spider-Man 3, when Tobey Maguire was still playing Peter Parker.
If a Venom Vs Spider-Man movie happens too soon, the writers and producers of the film would have a huge amount of ground to cover in such a short span of time. If these characters meet too early, fans would miss the chance to see their complicated backstory play out in solo movies. Spider-Man and Venom aren’t always friends, but they’re not always enemies either, and getting this dynamic right on screen requires a lot of prep work.
The MCU has started numerous projects that align very similarly with storylines used in Marvel Comics. Some of these projects would have been a great opportunity to start flushing out Venom’s character and incorporating small details, or plot elements, that would link him to the MCU. Two major examples include Spider-Man: No Way Home and Secret Invasion.
The original Venom in Marvel Comics bonded with Eddie Brock after Spider-Man exposes the identity of a villain known as Sin-Eater, who Eddie misidentified in one of his reports. Eddie blamed Spider-Man for ruining his career, then discovered his true identity, making him a dangerous adversary for Peter Parker.
The Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer showed that the film is gearing up to make Spider-Man’s identity a major part of the movie’s conflict, which does open the door for Eddie to discover the truth about Peter. It does not, however, address the issue with Sin-Eater. There’s also no real reason for Eddie and Venom to put a target on Spider-Man’s back now, or any time soon. Without introducing some sort of ground-breaking conflict between them, a Venom and Spider-Man crossover movie would be rather empty, since there’s no bad blood lingering between them.
Additionally, Eddie and Venom had a number of their own issues to work out in Marvel Comics. At one point in time, Eddie actually becomes Anti-Venom and almost kills the original Venom after the symbiote had bonded to a new host. While bonded with this new host, Venom fought against the Skrulls during their invasion of Earth.
Marvel is releasing their new show, Secret Invasion, on Disney Plus in 2022, which details the Skrulls' failed infiltration of Earth. In theory, this series could have been the perfect opportunity to introduce Venom to the MCU, but unless Eddie and Venom have a falling out during Venom 2, the two should still be bonded together by the time Secret Invasion is ready for release.
Without separating Eddie and Venom during the sequel, Venom's decision to abandon him to fight an alien war wouldn’t make much sense. There is, of course, still a possibility that Venom and Eddie will fight the Skrulls together, but the chances of that happening are very slim. These two are still wrapped up in the conflicts happening in their own stretch of the world, so throwing them into Secret Invasion, or making them fight another race of aliens while the other symbiotes are out of control, would be incredibly out of place.
As of right now, putting Eddie and Venom anywhere in the official MCU wouldn’t do much for their story, or their character development. Trying to tackle a project as massive as a Venom and Spider-Man face-off would be an even bigger leap, which would undoubtedly fall flat if the characters are awkwardly forced together. Spider-Man and Venom need to continue playing out their own respective storylines before they come anywhere near each other for an epic showdown.
Anything is possible in the MCU, so fans should still have hope that their favorite web-slinger will one day battle it out with the wise-cracking symbiote. Viewers need to be patient, though, if they want the movie to live up to their imaginations. Venom hasn’t had nearly as much screentime as Spider-Man has, so he and Eddie both deserve the chance to be the sole focus of their own story. That way, when the time comes for them to meet face to face with Spider-Man, it happens organically after a proper build-up.