This story accommodates spoilers for Venom: The Final Dance.
It’s the top of the highway for Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom. The ultimate installment of the Venom trilogy, Venom: The Final Dance, marks the top of Sony’s most profitable non-Spider-Man-related franchise—at the least for now. Whereas The Final Dance does finish in a approach that feels conclusive, it leaves the door ajar simply sufficient for potential future tales drawn from the Spider-Man universe throughout each Sony’s live-action Spider-verse tasks and, maybe, the MCU too.
Let’s begin with the latter as a option to construct to the previous. Regardless of a lot hypothesis that it might be in any other case, The Final Dance doesn’t stroll again the occasions of the Spider-Man: No Approach House post-credits sequence. For those who caught round for the ultimate moments of Tom Holland’s most up-to-date Spider-Man outing—which established that Spider-Man characters from a number of previous iterations of the franchise share a multiverse, and underneath sure circumstances, can hang around and do no matter—you’ll recall that Eddie Brock reveals up in the primary MCU and has a dialog about Thanos and the Infinity Stones with a bartender performed by Ted Lasso’s Cristo Fernández. After standing up and declaring he’s drunk, he’s rapidly transported again to his dimension of origin, the Sony Universe—however not with out forsaking a little bit of the Venom symbiote behind in Holland’s world. The Final Dance replays this scene and picks up with Brock again in his universe’s model of that very same bar, with a pissed off Venom declaring he’s bored with “multiverse shit.” Earlier than the 2 set out on the highway journey that makes up the majority of the movie, Eddie leaves fee for the bartender (additionally performed by Fernández), alongside one other hint of symbiote residue.
We later see Chiwetel Ejiofor seize this lingering piece, which displays the scene within the trailer we mentioned a number of months in the past. So, in a little bit of a bait and swap, Sony made it appear to be they had been strolling again the No Approach House tag as a advertising tactic, however the remaining movie confirms issues as they’re: There’s nonetheless a little bit of Venom lingering within the MCU for Kevin Feige and crew to deploy at any time when the narrative timing is correct.
The Final Dance affords perception into attainable future narratives, whether or not they’re Spidey-focused or in any other case. The crux of the plot entails Venom and Eddie making an attempt to make sure that the villainous Knull (Andy Serkis) doesn’t escape from the jail Venom and the opposite symbiotes created. When Venom sacrifices itself on the finish of the movie, it’s presumed that Knull’s makes an attempt at getting out are over—till a post-credits sequence undoes that, with Knull boasting that regardless of this presumed setback, the “King in Black” is awake and incoming.
Comedian ebook followers will know Knull lastly arrived on Earth within the King in Black crossover occasion from Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Clayton Cowles, and Frank Martin. Positioned as a primordial pressure extra highly effective and consequential than Galactus, Knull required all the Marvel universe of heroes to band collectively to take him out. Briefly, he’s most likely too overpowered to be dispatched by Venom. However which means he’d make a terrific foe for a crossover!
The place this crossover could or could not occur is a bit of up within the air. There’s an opportunity he may make his approach over to the MCU facet of issues, particularly after Holland referred to as the thought for the following Spider-Man film “loopy” and “a bit of completely different” from earlier movies. May Knull be the massive dangerous in a Sony-verse team-up movie? May anti-hero characters like Morbius and Kraven put apart their methods to battle Knull? May Juno Temple’s Agony symbiote that she’s bonded with on the finish of The Final Dance be a part of into the enjoyable? It’s frustratingly unclear, the other of how the MCU lays out its plan years upfront. Regardless, the nomenclature of The Final Dance is a purple herring, indicating by the point it is all executed that the symbiote facet of Spider-Man’s universe is simply getting began.
