I’ve just realized the MCU has the perfect chance to make its Venom story happen by using a Spider-Man villain it previously introduced and then didn’t fully utilize back into the franchise. The MCU timeline has featured Spider-Man in a considerable number of movies since it began, both in his own solo films, and Marvel crossover movies like Avengers: Endgame and Captain America: Civil War. With Spider-Man’s movie appearances in the MCU being consistently ᴀssociated with some of the franchise’s highest box offices, it seems likely that there’s plenty more appearances from the web-swinging hero on the horizon, too.

This is doubly true given there are plenty of stories left for the MCU to adapt when it comes to the future of Peter Parker and his superhero exploits, with some of the hero’s biggest enemies and allies still having thus far not gotten their day in the spotlight. One major example of this is the fact that the MCU Spider-Man has as of yet never met Venom, despite the external fan hopes and hype for the idea that he one day will. However, it seems taking a slightly more unusual path could make this story far easier to pull off – and potentially even more effective for the MCU itself.

The MCU Has The Potential To Make 2 Spider-Man Movie Hopes Reality At Once

The MCU’s Venom setup, while exciting in terms of its potential to bring the sometimes villain, sometimes antihero into the flagship Marvel universe, is also undeniably a little complicated. Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Venom were sent over to the MCU world at the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, but Spider-Man: No Way Home almost immediately sent him back in its own story without Holland’s Spider-Man actually meeting them, with the only lingering chance to capitalize on all this being the fragment of the symbiote left in the MCU’s Earth-616.

It wouldn’t be impossible for the MCU to set up its own Eddie Brock story – especially with the franchise taking Peter Parker into a new chapter of his life following the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home – but this would also require some screen-time dedication it perhaps can’t provide at this point in Spider-Man’s arc, especially since bringing in a character who already just finished his own separate film trilogy looks like it could carry its own complexities for the franchise. Luckily, though, Eddie is by no means the only person to have joined forces with the alien symbiote, even if he is its most famous co-pilot.

Interestingly enough, the MCU actually already has another notable character who has held the Venom mantle and bonded with the symbiote as a major part of his comic story that could work here: namely, that of Mac Gargan, also known as the Scorpion. Introduced in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Gargan’s role in the MCU movie was to essentially act as a secondary antagonist of sorts that let focus remain on the movie’s main villain, the Vulture, limiting the amount we actively got to see him as an interesting antagonist to Spider-Man in his own right.

As such, potentially handing the symbiote Venom storyline off to begin with Gargan instead in the MCU would make a lot of sense, and let the franchise capitalize on two storylines that people have hoped to see become reality after teases that haven’t been followed up on the overarching story so far. The Scorpion bonding with the Venom symbiote would do well to justify both going after Spider-Man, and allow the hero to feel haunted by his past even after his sacrifices in No Way Home, which offers some real dramatic narrative potential and tees the franchise up for some unique fight scenes.

Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Ending Tease Could Be The Perfect Setup For The MCU’s Venom Story

Spider-Man: Homecoming closed out with a mid-credits scene that saw Mac Gargan discussing the possibility of getting vengeance on the MCU hero with the Vulture – setting up the prospect of a Sinister Six villain team storyline even as the Vulture decided to keep Spider-Man’s secret idenтιтy to himself. However, with the franchise potentially leaning away from this story angle – since No Way Home adapted loosely the same idea already to some degree with its story, and the Homecoming tease itself led into Vulture’s controversial appearance in Morbius – repurposing this to lead into a Venom story could work.

The Spider-Man: Homecoming mid-credits scene underlines that Mac Gargan has a mᴀssive vendetta against Spider-Man because of the hero previously defeating him, and intends to work on a plan to make him pay. With the Venom symbiote being influenced by the person it bonds with, it would make sense if it bonding with Scorpion explained the fragment going from being part of the Sony-verse Venom – who was far more heroic – to being a more actively malicious enтιтy, fueled by a years-long grudge that Parker himself may have even forgotten about with everything else that’s gone on since then.

Depending on timing, this could either be used to pivot the MCU’s Venom into a more long-term villainous enтιтy, or to set up a black suit storyline for Spider-Man, as could make sense for the franchise given that Avengers: Secret Wars will be drawing from the comic that famously brought this plotline into reality the first time around decades ago. Either way, taking this avenue story-wise feels all the easier given what Spider-Man: Homecoming set up for the world, and given that intertwining these characters could justify both becoming bigger threats for a chapter of the MCU’s story.

Why Making Scorpion Into The MCU’s First Venom Could Make Most Sense For The MCU

By and large, the MCU has not used Marvel villains who have appeared in other recent live-action Marvel movies within its own Spider-Man story, which raises some questions regarding whether it would be willing to adapt Venom more extensively in its own world. However, using a pre-existing villain and delving into the symbiotes via this approach seems as though it could be a best of both worlds scenario that gives the MCU a unique way to begin dealing with its own Venom story while also ensuring it doesn’t feel like the franchise is just rehashing the same backstory for the character that we saw in Venom.

Though having Mac Gargan become the MCU’s first Venom would be an approach that contrasts with the original comics, that kind of move isn’t exactly unheard of for the MCU by any means, and could make paving a path forward in this regard both easier for the franchise as well as something that can tie into previous story threads and build a more cohesive overall narrative. Given how hungry fans are for Venom to have an active role in the MCU – and how satisfying Scorpion’s return could be – this avenue could be the best for the franchise, whether it’s the one taken or not.