Fans were very disappointed when Tom Holland's Peter Parker depart the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the wake of Spider-Man: Far From Home's success. Thankfully, after some surely intense negotiation, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Sony worked out a deal to keep the relationship between the two studios going for two more movies, one of which involves an appearance by Spider-Man in the MCU.
Furthermore, a statement by Feige indicates he may have walked back the confines the MCU held the character to in the past. That leaves fans wondering if Spidey could exist in both the MCU and Sony's burgeoning Spider-Verse.
Before Far From Home, Sony's slate of Spider-Man character movies was dubbed the Venom-Verse. This was partially due to Venom's surprising box-office success. But it was also because under the terms of the previous co-production deal between Marvel and Sony, Spider-Man wasn't permitted to be part of the Sony universe that featured Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock/Venom and now, Jared Leto's Morbius.
In fact, even movies revolving around the Sinister Six and Black Cat were being envisioned without Spidey. This was reinforced by Feige insisting that Venom wasn't part of the MCU and rumors that emerged suggesting Marvel didn't want Holland's character making a cameo in Venom.
However, one curious (and very low-key) quote from Feige now hints that things may have changed -- and drastically at that. "Spider-Man is a powerful icon and hero whose story crosses all ages and audiences around the globe," he stated about the renewed partnership with Sony. "He also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes, so as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-Verse you never know what surprises the future might hold."
This suggests that Peter could be set to become a key cog, if not the actual linchpin, in Sony's superhero realm. It definitely sounds like Feige's laying the groundwork for the eventual announcement of Spider-Man's appearance in Morbius or even Venom 2. The latter's a very interesting notion as fans have wanted to see the iconic dynamic between Eddie and Peter on the big screen, as well as the wall-crawler and the symbiote duking it out as they have in decades of comics and cartoons.
Honestly, there's no other imaginable reason why Feige would mention the "Spidey-Verse" and "what surprises the future might hold." It's especially telling that he didn't call the universe Sony is building the "Venom-Verse," which augurs well for Spidey fans who believe he, not Venom, should have been leading Sony's franchise from day one.
And in terms of logistics, Spider-Man easily fits into both universes. Peter can appear in a Marvel film to help enrich Phase 4, while remaining isolated in Venom 2 and other Sony-produced films. Simply put, the Spider-Verse can easily ignore the MCU and focus on Peter with new rogues, friends and family members who help craft his journey.
In fact, once Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness blows the lid off alternate Earths and realities, it should be no problem at all to have Peter exploring other worlds or handling incursions with the likes of Spider-Gwen and even Miles Morales -- something already possible thanks to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
In so doing, no MCU characters would need to cross over. Peter could make the trip outside of the MCU to another world on his own or fill his own pocket of NYC up with people that Feige and Co. need not address, such as Norman Osborn, Kraven, Rhino and other ground level villains. That said, technically, such characters would exist in the MCU because they're interacting with Peter. But the overlap wouldn't be noteworthy because we won't ever hear Venom mentioning Captain America or Nick Fury talking about Morbius.
The MCU and the Spider-Verse would he two different corners of Peter's world, and even they ignore each other, we'll get the best of both universes when it comes to the web-head. All it takes is clever writing, proper collaboration and a sense of awareness as to where both studios want to position the character and we'll be able to experience the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man in all of his glory in two franchises without much contention -- the way we true believers always hoped.
Helmed by Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Far from Home stars Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, JB Smoove, Jacob Batalon and Martin Starr, with Marisa Tomei and Jake Gyllenhaal. The film is now available on Digital HD and arrives on Blu-ray and 4K UHD Oct. 1.
The as-yet untitled third Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland releases on July 16, 2021.
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