Spider-Man might take his first step toward leaving the MCU as soon as next year

Spider-Man was at the center of a massive squabble between Disney and Sony over the summer, as the world learned the two giants were not able to reach a new understanding concerning Spider-Man’s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel may have created the popular superhero and Disney might own Marvel, but the company sold the rights to Spider-Man to Sony many years ago. And that’s why Sony has been making so many Spider-Man films of its own — it will lose access to the character if it doesn’t make at least one new movie every few years. Thankfully, Sony and Disney inked a new deal and we already know that Spider-Man 3 will be included in MCU Phase 4, hitting cinemas on July 16th, 2021. But we might not have to wait that long to see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man take his first step toward leaving the MCU, as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man might appear in a non-MCU movie as soon as next fall.

After the massive successes of Homecoming and Far From Home, Sony decided to create its own MCU-like world based around the Spider-Man characters it can use. And it has long been rumored that Sony’s Spider-verse might include the Venom franchise, with a sequel set to premiere on October 2nd, 2020.

It’s Venom 2 where we can expect a Tom Holland cameo, according to We Got This Covered. This is just a rumor, of course, but the blog says it comes from the same sources who have been accurate about other projects in the recent past:

According to our sources – the same ones who told us the Inhumans were being rebooted and that a Green Lantern show was in development for HBO Max, both of which turned out to be correct – Holland’s scene will see him webbing his way through town when he’ll catch a news report about the crimes of Cletus Kasady AKA Carnage (Woody Harrelson). The audience will then be left with the feeling that Peter Parker’s going to do something about it. Which would, of course, tee up him and Eddie Brock going after Carnage in Venom 3. After they first butt heads with each other, presumably.

Marvel chief Kevin Feige could always prevent Sony from using Holland in the film, the report notes, but these unnamed sources think Feige won’t do it. Holland’s cameo is supposed to be short and should not interfere with his MCU adventures.

Once news dropped that a new Spider-Man compromise had been reached, we learned that Sony and Disney agreed to have Spider-Man in the MCU for two more movies, including Spider-Man 3 and a crossover film. At the time, we speculated that it might be the next Avengers sequel, but Avengers 5 is yet to be confirmed.

Also, the reports detailing the new deal said that Sony and Marvel will work on making it easier to use Spider-Man in Sony’s own universe without having to worry too much about what happens on the other side. The brilliant Far From Home post-credits scene set up the MCU for a Spider-Man movie that’s never been done before, as Peter Parker’s identity is now known to the world. But that cliffhanger would have been problematic for both Sony and Marvel in a scenario where Spider-Man would have been left out of the MCU for good.