Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been left reeling in the wake of Spider-Man actor Tom Holland’s recent words to Entertainment Weekly:
We were all treating [Spider-Man: No Way Home] as the end of a franchise, let’s say. I think if we were lucky enough to dive into these characters again, you’d be seeing a very different version. It would no longer be the Homecoming trilogy. We would give it some time and try to build something different and tonally change the films. Whether that happens or not, I don’t know. But we were definitely treating [No Way Home] like it was coming to an end, and it felt like it.
The idea that the MCU would carry on without Holland, let alone without Spidey himself, is more than most Marvel fans can bear. The appearance of the webslinger in Captain America: Civil War, followed by roles in Avengers films and two solo Spidey flicks has been pure delight to audiences, who never thought the character would be wrested from Sony’s iron grip and integrated into the greater Marvel universe. But now, with these dark tidings of an ending to his Disney-backed run, fans are once more feeling the loss of Marvel’s most iconic character, even before the new film has hit theaters. So, just how dire is the situation? Perhaps not so dire as you might think. Let’s take a deeper look at Disney and Sony’s dealings and see if we can’t find some light at the end of the tunnel for Tom’s wallcrawler.
First, it should be noted that Sony and Disney almost split before No Way Home was even made. Disney had proposed a deal in which each studio would co-finance 25% of the movie and receive a 25% equity stake. Sony did not like these terms, and made it public that they were prepared to leave Disney out of the spidey equation entirely. The fans, and even Holland himself, were not happy. Fans raged online, tweeting en masse to #SaveSpiderMan. Holland heard their cries and took up the call himself, pleading with Disney CEO Bob Iger and Sony Film Chairman Tom Rothman to come back to the negotiating table. And it worked! In September, 2019, Disney and Sony made the magic happen once more. And here we are, just a couple of months away from a new MCU/Sony Spider-Man flick wherein Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige steered the creative ship to no doubt produce another financial and critical success and Sony will come away with another $1 billion plus profit margin. Everybody wins.
But what happens after the new Spider-Man movie? Is there truly no way home for Tom Holland? Well, one ray of sunshine should instantly have fans feeling better: The new deal not only ensured this new Holland-headlining solo Spidey project, but his appearance in another, as-of-yet undisclosed, future MCU film. It may not be the "Spider-Man 4: Home is Where the Web Is" movie we’d all like to see, but it at least confirms that we will be seeing Holland in the MCU at least one more time. Another lesser-known stipulation of the new deal is that Disney will be hosting Sony movies on its streaming platforms, Disney+ and Hulu. This includes many of Sony’s older films, including the Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and already released Holland Spider-Man flicks, as well as any Sony theatrical releases between 2022 and 2026. While Disney won’t be the first to stream these films, as a previous Netflix deal gives them first rights, it means that they will eventually find their more permanent home on the House of Mouse, giving nearly the entire MCU catalogue a one-spot destination. This years-long streaming deal only indicates a more amicable relationship between the two studio giants, and as such, signals more friendly dealings in the future, not to mention motivation to make money together. That is a very good sign that further sharing of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man should go much more smoothly than in the past.
Last, but certainly not least, there is the mid-credits stinger seen in Venom: Let There Be Carnage to consider. If you haven’t seen the movie, you might want to stop reading here, as this is a pretty big spoiler… Okay, for those of you still around, let’s go over that stinger one more time. At the end of Let There Be Carnage, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom are seen relaxing on a bed in a dilapidated hotel room, watching a foreign soap opera. Eddie and Venom are discussing secrets they shouldn’t be withholding from one another, but Venom, being an ancient spacefaring alien, informs Eddie that what he’s seen would basically blow his fragile little human mind. In the end, Eddie convinces him to show him just a little something. That something turns out to be a multiversal warp that sends the pair into an alternate (and much cleaner) version of the hotel room in which they’d been lounging. More importantly, the television is now broadcasting J. Jonah Jameson’s (J.K. Simmons) breaking news report revealing Spider-Man to be none other than teenager, Peter Parker. This is the same new report that triggered the “What the fu..?!” ending of Spider-Man: Far from Home.
This seems to indicate that not only are Spider-Man and Venom now in the same dimensional universe, but that a future interaction between Holland’s Spider-Man and Hardy’s Venom is now imminent. Whether that takes place in a Sony/MCU film or a solo Sony film is impossible to say, but it does give quite a flicker of hope that we will be seeing Holland don the reds and blues once again. Further, when Venom sees Peter Parker on TV, he strangely says, “that guy,” and licks the screen. This implies that Venom recognizes the character. Now, with the No Way Home trailer telling a story of multiversal entanglement, including scenes of Holland’s Spider-Man fighting foes of Maguire’s and Garfield’s takes on the character, there’s a lot to speculate about this simple hotel scene. Is this Venom the same symbiote that possessed Topher Grace’s Eddie Brock in Spider-Man 3, and he now remembers his enemy? Or is this just a completely different Venom that hungers for Spider-Man’s powers as a potential host, as was the case in the comics? Or, could the news report stating that Spider-Man killed Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) in cold blood trigger the Lethal Protector in Venom, and make him want to take down Spider-Man since he’s supposedly a bad guy? Whatever the answer is, the bigger question for fans is whether Venom will meet Spider-Man in No Way Home, or in a future project.
All of this adds up to one seemingly implacable truth: We will see Tom Holland play Spider-Man again after this next wallcrawling outing. Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on December 17, 2021.