Spider-Man has been a more than welcome member of the MCU’s ensemble since bursting onto the screen in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, but his days in Marvel’s own big-screen franchise have always been numbered. The character is effectively on loan to Marvel Studios from Sony, the studio that owns the rights to Spidey and just about all of his supporting characters.
Starting with 2018’s Venom, Sony has been building its own Marvel-based cinematic universe, the wordily named Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (occasionally shortened to the similarly complicated acronym “SPUMC”). It’s only a matter of time before Tom Holland’s Spidey is yanked out of the MCU and added to the SPUMC too.
Continue His Solo Adventures Without MCU References
Since Peter Parker is a high schooler, his solo adventures tend to be low-stakes with little connection to the wider MCU beyond his cameoing mentors.
As long as Peter never appears in another Avengers movie, there’s no reason why his MCU solo series couldn’t continue in the SPUMC with Ned and MJ and Flash and the rest of his established supporting cast.
Drag Him Out Of The MCU And Into The SPUMC Via The Multiverse
Simply following on from Spider-Man: No Way Home without any references to the MCU whatsoever might not work, since the MCU’s Earth is still reeling post-Endgame and Peter’s connection to Tony Stark has been a huge part of his character arc so far.
Instead, Sony might have to make the universe crossover a bit more literal. If the MCU is one universe and the SPUMC is another universe, Sony could simply take Holland’s Spidey out of the MCU and put him into the SPUMC via the multiverse.
Team-Up With Venom
The upcoming Venom sequel, Let There Be Carnage, is set to introduce Cletus Kasady, better known as the supervillain Carnage. In the comics, Venom is primarily a villain to Spider-Man, but the two have been known to team up – usually to fight Carnage when he gets out of control. Such a team-up could happen in the final act of the Venom sequel if Sony really wants to surprise audiences.
Or, if Sony couldn’t negotiate the rights and Spider-Man won’t be in Venom 2, then as long as Carnage isn’t killed in Let There Be Carnage (and hopefully he won’t be, because too many modern comic book movies kill off iconic villains who deserve longer arcs), then the Venom series could build to a team-up of Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock to defeat Carnage once and for all.
The Long-Gestating Sinister Six Movie
A Sinister Six movie has been in development at Sony since 2013, with Drew Goddard in the director’s chair, but it stalled after the box office underperformance of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Since this was one of the projects that led to the creation of the SPUMC in the first place, it’s likely that it’ll still eventually get made.
What brings the Sinister Six together is their shared hatred of Spider-Man. They’re essentially an anti-Spidey society, so it would make perfect sense for the webslinger himself to appear in their movie.
Integrate Him Into The Animated Spider-Verse
After the runaway success of Into the Spider-Verse, Sony will surely continue to expand the animated side of its Spider-Man output. The original 2018 masterpiece introduced Miles Morales alongside two different versions of Peter Parker and a bunch of other interdimensional Spider-Men.
Since the sequel is set to incorporate Spider-Man 2099, the sky is the limit for the Spider-Verse. Alongside this new addition, Tom Holland’s Spidey could be integrated into the animated universe too.
A Cameo In Morbius
On January 28, 2022, Sony is set to release Morbius, an SPUMC movie starring Jared Leto as the vampiric supervillain Michael Morbius. Tyrese Gibson recently said the movie was a part of the MCU, which Sony has since denied.
Despite this, based on the movie’s trailers, Morbius does seem to have some MCU connections. Michael Keaton’s Vulture from Homecoming makes an appearance and the Daily Bugle logo seemingly references the end of Far From Home. There’s a slim chance that Holland’s Spidey will have a cameo in this movie.
Kraven’s Solo Movie Could Revolve Around Hunting Spidey
Sony recently announced a Kraven the Hunter solo movie starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson to be released on January 13, 2023. It’s unclear what a solo Kraven movie will be about, since he’s primarily characterized in relation to Spider-Man, but maybe that is what the film will focus on.
In the comics, Kraven is a big-game hunter who determines Spider-Man to be the ultimate prey and sets out to track him down and kill him. This hunt could be the focus of the movie. Tom Holland’s Spidey could exist on the periphery as we follow the story from Kraven’s perspective.
Mentor A Live-Action Miles Morales
If Sony is building out an entire cinematic universe based on Spider-Man characters, then the introduction of a live-action Miles Morales seems inevitable. From Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin to Moonlight’s Alex R. Hibbert to Into the Spider-Verse voice actor Shameik Moore, there are plenty of strong candidates.
When Holland is ready to depart from the role of Peter Parker, he could mentor a live-action Miles to become the SPUMC’s definitive Spider-Man.