This beloved character will return after Venom: The Last Dance, reports say

Ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe took the world by storm and revolutionized superhero movies, Sony has been trying to play catch up with Spider-Man characters. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was intended to be the starting point of an interconnected universe of movies that included The Sinister Six, Silver & Black, and a third stand-alone Andrew Garfield film. But even if those plans didn't come to be, Sony never stopped trying to accomplish its goals.

It wasn't until 2018 that they were able to launch a spin-off that didn't include the wall-crawler himself in the form of Venom. While the movie wasn't met with a positive critical response, it was an overwhelming hit with fans. And with that, a whole trilogy was secured. Now, fast forward six years, and it's all coming to an end with the release of Venom: The Last Dance. Tom Hardy even took to Instagram to say his farewells to the character: "That's our lot - from me and the big guy - we loved every minute."

While such a goodbye may be heartbreaking at first glance, perhaps it isn't representative of the full story. Even if the Lethal Protector franchise is over, that doesn't mean we can't see him in other superhero projects. Fortunately, it looks like that's exactly what could wind up happening.

Venom's story won't be over after his next movie

As reported by Alex from The Cosmic Circus, the Lethal Protector's story won't be over even after the release of Venom: The Last Dance. Furthermore, insider Daniel Richtman also weighed in on the matter to clarify the upcoming movie will build up many story elements for "something" other than Venom 4. This seems to align with other recent rumors that indicate Knull and Eddie Brock will crossover to the MCU and share the big screen with Tom Holland's Peter Parker.

By the looks of it, Spider-Man 4 is shaping up to be a multiversal adventure that could deal with a symbiote invasion. It's important to remember the seeds for such a big storyline were already planted in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home. In it, a small piece of Eddie Brock's symbiote was left behind on Earth-616 before Venom returned to Sony's universe. That's a key detail, especially if we look at the source material and dive into a bit of comic book history.

In Donny Cates' Venom (2018), it's revealed that a symbiote never truly separates from a living being after their bonding even if they go their separate ways. Instead, it leaves a piece of itself behind on the host's DNA which is used to share details about said host with the rest of the hivemind. That's known as a "symbiote codex", and Carnage eventually learns that if he collects a great number of codices, then he'd be able to reawaken his god, Knull.

A similar story could be adapted in live-action (except another character would need to do Cletus Kasady's bidding). Perhaps someone's looking to free the King in Black by collecting all the codices left behind by symbiotes, which could take them to the MCU. After all, there's a high chance Eddie's symbiote already bonded with someone else on Earth 616. That would put Spider-Man and Venom in a position where they would need to team up to stop Knull's arrival and eventual invasion. Granted this is all just a theory, but it would explain why the Venom franchise is ending even if the character lives outside it.

Would you like to see more of The Lethal Protector after Venom: The Last Dance? Let us know on our social media pages! And stick around with Whatever A Spider Can for everything Spider-Man-related.