One Scene In Venom Prevents It From Ever Being Part Of The MCU

Throughout Venom‘s production, there were rumors that Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios were making plans that could retroactively insert the movie into the MCU if they needed to. If you have an on-screen Venom, then it stands to reason that at some point he should meet Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, right? But how could you get the two together?

Well, most assumed that the plan was to have no obvious MCU references in Venom, but to avoid too many specifics about the nature of the world that the film was taking place in. That seemed like a logical route to take, but eagle-eyed fans have now spotted a scene that seems to indicate that Venom simply can’t ever be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The scene in question revolves around Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock being surprised and shocked to learn of the existence of aliens. Now, your average citizen in the MCU is fully aware that aliens exist due to the Battle of New York in 2012’s The Avengers (not to mention that Thor’s also an alien and pretty damn famous). Even the more grounded corners of the MCU, like Jessica Jones, occasionally reference their existence, so it’s basically impossible for reporter Eddie Brock not to know.

That said, they could just ignore the scene, but it’s kind of a big deal. Its inclusion goes against much of what various producers had been teasing throughout Venom‘s production, too. Amy Pascal, for instance, said that the Sony movies “will now take place in the world that we are creating for Peter Parker. They’ll be adjuncts to it, they may be different locations, but it will still all be in the same world. And they will be connected to each other as well.” Even Kevin Feige wouldn’t rule out a crossover, saying “never say never.”

Then there’s the looming fact that Tom Holland’s contract with Marvel Studios is set to expire soonish. Signed for a six-film deal, he’s burned through them very fast, with his appearances in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers 4 and Spider-Man: Far From Home leaving him with just one more appearance before – theoretically at least – Sony could take Spidey back from the MCU for their own films.

What a tangle, eh? We’ll let you know if anything further comes from all this, but in the meantime, go ahead and check out Venom if you haven’t already, as it’s much better than the critics have made it out to be.