Venom is one of the most popular Spider-Man: No Way Home set up an interesting connection between Spider-Man universes - however, amidst the various Spider-Man projects, it seems there is little plan to directly follow up on this. After a new story from Marvel has now set up the exact same thing, it seems this story may be tackled in a totally new format.

Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man is the only live-action version of the character who has yet faced Venom. With no current plans for Sony's movies, and the end of their Venom trilogy with Venom: The Last Dance, the plans for the character moving forward - whether with Venom take on Tom Holland's web-crawling hero may have already been dashed.

Spider-Man: No Way Home Set Up Tom Holland's Peter Parker Getting A Symbiote Suit

The MCU Sequel Saw A Piece Of Venom Left Behind

The ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home saw a piece of Eddie Brock's symbiote being left behind in the MCU. Tom Hardy's inclusion in the film as Eddie Brock was a strange choice, and only saw the character hanging out in a bar after the ending of Venom: Let There Be Carnage had him universe-hopping and set to look for Spider-Man. I found the scene to be anticlimactic, but the fact that Eddie's return to his universe left a piece of the alien behind was compelling, and suggested important details for the future.

Since this occurred, it seemed that Marvel was setting up for Tom Holland's Spider-Man to bond with the symbiote. There have been all kinds of stories that this could connect to, including ones where Spider-Man takes on Knull, or teams up with characters from Sony's universe. This dangling story thread was set up to be an important part of Peter Parker's future, although new developments have suggested that, like Eddie's own time in the MCU, the story behind this may not actually go very far.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Just Set Up The Same Venom Storyline

The Latest Spider-Man Project Has Told A Strikingly Similar Story

Shockingly, the final episodes of Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 1 seem to have set up a very similar premise to the main MCU. Among the Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 9 and 10 Easter eggs, the first season finale for the new Disney+ show has left a piece of the symbiote behind in their universe as well. Following interdimensional meddling by Norman Osborn - and a series of exciting and explosive action scenes - a portal was closed, and a piece of the symbiote was left behind, just like in No Way Home.

The new animated series is taking some bold choices with Spider-Man's lore, and seems to be tying a number of significant stories to Norman Osborn. Following the famous villain taking on Iron Man's mentor role to Peter, the conclusion to season 1 has now set up a relationship between Norman and the symbiote. It appears likely that using the symbiote in his experiments may occur in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2, or that Norman could even bond with the symbiote himself, creating a new, Venomized version of the Spider-Man villain.

I'm Convinced Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2 Will Have The Symbiote Story I Wanted To See In Spider-Man 4

The Animated Show Has More Flexibility With Spider-Man Character Rights

With so many possible rumors contending for Spider-Man 4's story, I no longer believe that the new film will do anything with their symbiote tease. Navigating the relationship between Sony and Disney - and their shared use of Spider-Man characters - is complex, and bringing in pieces of their now seemingly defunct universe with this Venom symbiote could be a risky move. In addition, the film already has so much to do in examining Peter's new place in the world after having been forgotten while being set between the next two Avengers films.

The new animated series has more screentime and more flexibility with character rights. Disney is able to use their library of Spider-Man characters in animation without the same level of cooperation between studios, which has led to incredible Spider-Man showdowns in the new series. With a clearer narrative angle setting the symbiote up for a relationship with Norman Osborn, no larger universe details to set up, and no rights issues to navigate, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man seems to be set to tell the story it may be too difficult to locate in the MCU.

I'm disappointed that it seems the Venom tease in the MCU may not go anywhere - be that in Spider-Man 4 or otherwise - but I'm excited to see what happens in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season 2. The new animated series is a lot of fun and has a lot of heart, and its character iterations are truly special. It is unusual to see two different Spider-Man projects telling such a similar story, but I believe this points to an enormous planned divergence away from Venom in the next Spider-Man live-action film. Wherever these stories are told, though, I will surely be there to see them.

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