This Spider-Man variant is rumored to appear in Venom 3 and here's why it could happen

Two Venom movies have come and gone, and we have yet to watch Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock face his greatest arch-nemesis. So all eyes are on Venom: The Last Dance to finally rectify that mistake. After all, the upcoming Sony project will serve as the conclusion of the franchise, so wouldn't it be great to go out with a bang and let The Lethal Protector and Spider-Man finally meet face-to-face? Well, it seems that's exactly what will happen according to a new report.

So far, we've seen three different iterations (or variants) of the wall-crawler on the big screen. Tobey Maguire was the first actor to wear the iconic red and blue suit, followed by Andrew Garfield just five years after the end of Sam Raimi's saga. Currently, Tom Holland acts as New York's friendly neighborhood hero, and there are no signs of him stopping.

So which version of the web-slinger would be the lucky one to face Tom Hardy's Venom? Well, we could finally have an answer to that long-standing mystery, and it is a big one.

Tom Holland's Peter Parker could finally face Venom

According to scooper Marvel News on X (formerly Twitter), Tom Holland's version of the wall-crawler will be going toe to toe with the Lethal Protector. The news may come as a little bit of a surprise, especially when it was reported earlier in the year that Andrew Garfield would be the one fulfilling that role. However, it's hard to deny both the Venom and Homecoming franchises have been building up to this.

The first time the two characters (indirectly) shared the screen was in the Venom: Let There Be Carnage post-credits scene. In that sequence, it is implied that the symbiote works as a hivemind across multiple universes. And since the parasitic alien knew about Peter's identity in other realities, Doctor Strange's spell transported it and Eddie Brock to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is at that point that they see Peter Parker in a news broadcast.

The connection between Tom Holland's Peter Parker and the Lethal Protector was strengthened in No Way Home's post-credits scene. While Eddie returned to his own universe after Peter and Strange reverted the effects of the spell, a piece of the symbiote was (somehow) left behind. So now that all of these seeds have already been planted, how does the story go forward?

Why would Venom and Peter cross paths

Remember when we said the symbiote acts as a hivemind across the multiverse? Well, what if the piece of the black suit left behind in the MCU was to call Eddie to retrieve it? That very same call could be the reason why other symbiotes (or "Venom's home") have found them and caused an invasion.

The implication here would be that Eddie would travel at some point in the movie back to the MCU to retrieve the symbiote left behind, with Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character following them. Maybe that's why we see the Mexican bar of No Way Home's post-credits scene revisited in the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance. If Eddie was truly in Earth-616, then Tom Holland's Peter Parker could show up pretty easily.

Of course, there's also the chance that the bar scene is just a big mislead on Sony's part just like they did with Morbius' trailer. Besides, it would be pretty confusing for Chiwetel Ejiofor to be in the MCU where he already played a different character there in the form of Mordo. But if Tom Holland's Spider-Man truly appears in Venom: The Last Dance, then the multiverse would need to be involved in some capacity. And if that turns out to be the case, then not only it would explain that confusing bar trailer scene, but it would also allow for a fantastic ending to Sony's franchise. Watching the wall-crawler and the Lethal Protector share the screen? Count us in.

Venom: The Last Dance premieres on October 25, 2024.