Kelly Marcel, screenwriter for both Venom and the sequel Venom: Let there be Carnage, will make her directorial debut in the final movie of the trilogy. The third film was confirmed by Sony way back in April of 2022. Tom Hardy will be only the third actor in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) to have a trilogy. Toby Maguire and Tom Holland starred in three Spider-Man movies. Andrew Garfield hasn’t appeared in the third film for his role as the web-slinger. Deadline first reported the news of Marcel’s promotion to director. She and Tom Hardy will be working on the story together. The pair will also serve as producers for the film. At this point, details on the third movie are scarce. If the post-credits scene from Spider-Man: No Way Home is any indication, we may see a crossing over of Tom Holland to the SSU. During the post-credits scene of the Spider-Man movie, Eddie Brock is seen clarifying certain plot elements of the MCU. He mentions Tony Stark’s Iron Man, The Hulk, and the purple alien with the stones which refer to Thanos and the Infinity Stones. It is revealed in the scene that the blip happened while Brock was being inhabited by the Symbiote. Brock remarks that he should go and speak to Spider-Man. The scene ends with Brock and Venom vanishing in a flash of light with a small portion of the Symbiote being left behind. This all points to an eventual meeting between Spider-Man and the anti-hero Venom. It can, however, get a bit confusing as all three Peter Parker(s) (Maguire, Garfield, and Holland) are now part of the MCU. It is implied that Earth-616 is inhabited by Holland’s character. The relationship between Sony’s Spider-Verse and the MCU is something that can be hard to understand. Sony still owns the license to everything Spider-Man related. The two companies negotiated a deal for Holland (and eventually Maguire and Garfield) to be part of the MCU. The deal gives Marvel the freedom to add such characters to any of its movies. Sony, however, retains the rights to the movies. This is the reason why Spider-Man films are not part of the Disney+ lineup. Sony can also borrow the MCU characters for use in its own movies. Iron Man, Nick Fury, and The Hulk could appear in the SSU which is essentially a different universe (or multiverse). The post-credits scenes for both Venom: Let there be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home established a link between Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is no word yet on when the third installment of Venom will come out. It may take a while since Marcel just recently came on board the project.
