I'm one of the countless Marvel fans who can't wait to see iconic films Spider-Man villains like Venom and Kraven the Hunter fight the wall-crawler in live action – so it pains me to think about how the MCU missed a golden opportunity to add them to the Spider-Man franchise. Now that Sony's Spider-Man Universe is apparently defunct, the fate of the featured Spider-Man-adjacent characters is decidedly up in the air. I'm instinctively inclined to believe that Sony no longer has plans for these characters, which I think is a shame as it exemplifies the downsides of Sony's decision.
Say what you want about his major films, but I believe Tom Hardy's Venom and Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Kraven are top-notch performances. Many like me lamented that these characters would seemingly never face Spider-Man in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, but Venom's brief visit to the MCU's Earth-616 proved that a migration to the more successful MCU was possible. Unfortunately, I think Sony and Marvel have missed the boat, and introducing these versions of Venom and Kraven into the MCU now would require an immediate and unequivocal truce between them and Peter Parker.
Spider-Man: Far From Home ended with Peter Parker accused of murder
Mysterio Successfully Painted Spider-Man as a Villain
Spider-Man: Far From Home cleverly presented Mysterio as a villain who used illusions and misinformation as a tool to defeat Peter Parker while he was still reeling from the loss of his mentor, Tony Stark. His disinformation campaign included painting himself as a multiversal superhero perfectly positioned to supplant Iron Man, successfully winning the hearts and minds of the MCU's denizens. After Peter realized his lies and tried to arrest Mysterio in London, the villain's Hail Mary would telegraph a final and particularly destructive falsehood to the world: that Peter Parker was a murderer.
Quentin Beck blamed Peter for his death, stating that he did it out of a desire to be Iron Man's sole successor. He also used a catchphrase of Peter's: “run them all“, to make it appear as if he was using Stark's armed drones to maximize civilian casualties in London when in fact he was commanding EDITH to perform all cancellation procedures. Unfortunately for Spider-Man, the fake news caught on, turning him into a pariah among half the population. Even worse, Beck revealed Spider-Man's secret identity, creating significant turmoil in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Far From Home Creates the Perfect Moment for Venom and Kraven to Fight Spider-Man
Sony's antiheroes could have gone after the “villain” Spider-Man
Venom and Kraven's origin films established them both as antiheroes who adhere to a strict moral code that only puts evildoers in the crosshairs. While this is a relatively comical MO for Venom despite glossing over his villainous origins, the same cannot be said for Kraven as Kraven the Hunter departs significantly from the source material, painting him as a lethal vigilante. However, with Spider-Man now successfully portrayed as a particularly powerful villain, It stands to reason that the two vigilantes would want to pursue and subdue someone who they also believed to have killed several innocent people.
With that in mind, I'm now convinced that Spider-Man: No Way Home should have delivered the fight we all want to see.
Venom recognizes Peter Parker in the post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnagewhich is why he is transported to the MCU's Earth-616 along with Spider-Man's other rivals aware of his identity (although he spent his entire outing in a bar). While Kraven the Hunter did not even make reference to the existence of Spider-Man, however, It's not beyond the realm of possibility that the world's greatest hunter may have learned this crucial information somewhere in your travels. With this in mind, I am now convinced that Spider-Man: No Way Home should have presented the fight we all want to see.
Now it makes no sense for Kraven or Venom to fight Spider-Man
Peter Parker is anonymous once again
While it's unclear how far-reaching Doctor Strange's spell is, everyone has forgotten who Peter Parker is. Even if there is a workaround that allows inhabitants of other universes to retain this knowledge, the way Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Kraven and Tom Hardy's Venom have been characterized now prevents them from pursuing Spider-Man, who is more once a superhero. While Venom: Let There Be Carnage admittedly insinuated that Venom harbors a deeper resentment towards Spider-Man, I find it difficult to see how Sony and Marvel could justify the noble Kraven reneging on his morals just this once.
Ultimately, this means these versions of the characters have been written out of the MCUwhich makes me very sad. While the multiverse provides the ideal path for Sony's Kraven and Venom to join the MCU following the death of Sony's Spider-Man Universe, I don't see why Marvel Studios would want to do so without preceding a well-justified fight between them and Spider-Man. Unfortunately, I feel like this is a curtain call for both characters and instead we may have to wait for new interpretations created within the MCU.
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- Release date
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February 14, 2025
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Rays*
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- Release date
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July 25, 2025
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- Release date
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July 24, 2026