The most recent entry in Venom’s solo film franchise was last year’s “Let There Be Carnage,” which received more mixed-to-negative reviews, but which was an even greater commercial success than “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” earning over half a billion dollars on a $110 million budget.
Spoilers for the end of “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” follow.
Tom Hardy’s “Venom” character, Eddie Brock, was last seen in a post-credits scene, too, though in this case, he was cameoing in a Marvel Studios film, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The “Let There Be Carnage” post-credits scene brought Venom into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in the one for “No Way Home,” we learned that he had only briefly remained there during the events of “No Way Home,” staying on the sidelines in a kind of multiversal beach vacation while Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin and the other Spidey villains dominated the main storyline.
Hardy’s appearance in “Venom” ultimately landed as more of a gag. It seemed to dispel the possibility of a true crossover between his movie series and that of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man anytime soon, as Eddie was quickly sent back to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. He did leave a little piece of his symbiote self behind, which could have major ramifications on the future of the MCU, but for now, at least, it looks like Hardy’s Venom and Holland’s Spider-Man will be inhabiting separate sandboxes.
Given the events of “Morbius,” however, it seems reasonable to assume that we might see some more overlap or crossover happening between him, Venom, and a certain other refugee MCU villain in the future. Whether this will happen in “Venom 3” or whether that movie will just continue to set the stage for a greater team-up to come remains to be seen.
We’ll keep you updated as more “Ghostbusters 5” and “Venom 3” news develops.
