The Marvel Cinematic Universe is on the cusp of an exciting new era, as not only is studio president Kevin Feige prepping the next phase of the MCU, he is also collaborating with Sony on possible crossovers, the most major of which was teased in the recently-released Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Feige spoke to THR about what went into putting together that little tease, but did so in his trademark roundabout manner.
While Sony leased Spider-Man to Marvel, it has also been dangling the possibility of the superhero appearing in one of its own films. Crucially, both universes have remained separate from each other, until now. Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (which is a title that the studio wisely pivoted to after first deciding to call it Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters), began with 2018’s Venom and continued with Venom: Let There Be Carnage. A key scene in the new film involves Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock/Venom finding themselves in the MCU, setting up a potential face-off with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man.
Feige was asked about the scene at the recent world premiere of Marvel’s Eternals, and he said:
“There was a lot of coordination — and if you don’t know all the coordination yet, I’m not going to be the one to tell you — but yes, between Sony and Marvel and the Venom team and the No Way Home team. We worked together on it.”
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Make of that what you will, but it’s interesting to note that Feige also teased another possible crossover in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home. It is perhaps the worst kept secret in the industry that Holland’s third solo Spider-Man movie will fully embrace the concept of the multiverse, thereby opening up the possibility of characters that exist in other franchises — like Venom — jumping into the MCU. The first trailer for the film, due out in December, revealed that Alfred Molina will be back as Doctor Octopus, reprising his role from the original Spider-Man trilogy, starring Tobey Maguire.
This kind of fan service wasn’t easy to achieve. Sony and Marvel famously had a falling-out a few years ago, and Holland himself had to step in and mediate a truce. Sony’s Spider-Man Universe will continue with Morbius and Kraven the Hunter films, while Spider-Man: No Way Home will be released on December 17.