What Is The Future Of Sony's Spider-Verse? Venom: Let There Be Carnage Holds Clues
The release of "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" marks the next chapter in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters. That's what the studio is officially calling its shared universe of "Spider-Man" characters that it controls the rights to. It's not as snappy as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it gets the job done. The release of this movie, however, raises some serious questions about what comes next.
Not just because Sony clearly wants to keep this franchise going, with movies like "Morbius" and "Kraven the Hunter" on deck, but because the movie itself raises some huge questions. It's time to try and answer some of those questions by speculating somewhat wildly based on the information available at present. Get on your tinfoil hats, Marvel fans, it's about to get crazy.
Warning: major spoilers ahead for "Venom: Let There Be Carnage." Proceed with caution.
Game-Changing Post-Credits Scenes
I cannot express this enough: if you have not watched "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" yet, turn back now. Last chance. That having been said, the post-credits scene attached to director Andy Serkis' sequel is a straight-up game-changer. While I already went into a lot more detail about the scene elsewhere, to briefly explain, the scene finally provides a way for Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock/Venom to meet Tom Holland's Peter Parker/Spider-Man. It's happening. For better or for worse.
The scene sees Eddie seemingly transported to another universe due to a shockwave that looks not unlike the one we see created by Doctor Strange in the "Spider-Man: No Way Home" trailer. He sees J.K. Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson from "Spider-Man: Far From Home" on the TV, along with images of Holland's unmasked Spidey. Sony is not playing coy: these universes are now one. How, precisely, that is going to work has yet to be explained, and it also remains unclear when the characters are going to meet. But it's happening. Make no mistake about that.
This, ultimately, goes back to the "Far From Home" post-credits scene. That, more or less, introduced the multiverse idea to the MCU, with a new version of Jameson, as portrayed by Simmons, radically different from the one he played in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy. In hindsight, this scene was the first seed that will ultimately blossom into a massive Marvel multiverse. And it is within that multiverse that likely lies the key to the future of Sony's franchise.
The Multiverse is Coming
Over in the MCU, the multiverse has been growing steadily. Shows like "WandaVision" and "Loki" did an awful lot to introduce this concept to viewers. "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" are poised to open the floodgates. As a result, seemingly anything is on the table for both Disney's MCU and Sony's own Marvel universe. Yes, the studios need to cooperate with one another for these things to happen, but that post-credits scene attached to "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" implies that Sony, at the very least, is going to leverage this concept for all it's worth. And it could be worth an awful lot. Specifically, it could give Sony an "Avengers"-level event movie in the not-too-distant future that would seemingly be set up to be a guaranteed $1 billion box office hit, even in the radically changed future that theatrical distribution is facing.
The Seeds Have Been Planted
Here, I am going to get into full-on, wild speculation territory. Though I don't feel it is entirely unfounded. But go on this ride with me and please, hear me out — while also tempering expectations, as this is as far from confirmed as a thing can be. With that out of the way, I firmly believe Sony's not-so-long game with all of this is to build to a live-action "Spider-Verse" movie. This is the best option they have available to get a gigantic superhero crossover flick that would generate an insane amount of interest from moviegoers. It would be huge.
What we've seen in the "Morbius" trailer already indicates that Sony is prepared to mix up its spin-off movies with the "Spider-Man" movies. They have been planting seeds for a little while now. Why else would they have Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes show up alongside Jared Leto's Morbius? Sony can't necessarily have characters they don't control, such as Doctor Strange, show up in these spin-off movies without Disney's permission, but they can absolutely have Vulture show up in any movie they so please, as they're the ones who are allowing Disney to use that character in the first place.
Sony's Endgame? A Live-Action Spider-Verse
This is key to the notion of a live-action "Spider-Verse" movie. There has been much speculation about Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield showing up in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as their respective versions of the web-slinging hero. Garfield, for his part, has denied this at every turn. Not that he would be able to say anything even if he were in the movie. That said, I would tend to believe that "No Way Home," with the multiverse action, and all of those villains such as Doc Ock getting thrown in the mix, has too much on its plate already to adequately incorporate three Spider-Mans.
That being the case, my best guess is that Garfield and Maguire will show up briefly in "No Way Home," essentially teeing up the ball for something bigger. That something being a big team-up movie akin to a live-action version of "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." The nostalgia alone would generate a great deal of interest from fans of all ages. Executed correctly, it could, in theory, be as big as an "Avengers" movie. Sony knows, thanks to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," that audiences are ready for such big leaps. Why shoehorn something that monumental into "No Way Home" when they can, instead, use that as a platform to set up a much larger play?
Jamie Foxx even teased something like this in a since-deleted Instagram post. Foxx is returning as Electro in "No Way Home" and could be leading up to a big Sinister Six battle. That could easily provide a large enough threat to justify the need for Maguire, Garfield, and Holland to team up. Whether or not this, specifically, comes to fruition, best believe Sony is going to milk this multiverse cow for all it's worth.