Venom and Spider-Man might be most famous as enemies, but an unlikely MCU team-up could prove a both hilarious and more inventive option. When it comes to Marvel villains, Spider-Man probably has the best line-up of opponents to do battle with. There's Doctor Octopus, The Green Goblin, The Lizard, Kraven the Hunter, and many more memorable names. The most famous Spider-Man foe though is probably Venom, who in the most common version of the character is what happens when an alien symbiote becomes one with a reporter named Eddie Brock.
While Venom began life as a villain, he ultimately proved so popular that the character went on to spend a lot of time as an anti-hero, sometimes even working alongside old rival Spider-Man. 2018's hit Venom movie revised its titular lead even further, disconnecting Venom's origin from Spider-Man, who originally spent time bonded with the black symbiote prior to the creature attaching itself to Brock. Venom was also never a villain in this take, as Tom Hardy's Brock was a nicer person than past incarnations, and did his best to stop the symbiote from slaughtering innocents.
Following the signing of Marvel and Sony's new deal to keep sharing the movie rights to Spider-Man that was brokered in 2019, many reports have suggested that it's only a matter of time until Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Hardy's Venom share the screen, either in Sony's Marvel universe, the MCU, or both. While the most obvious route for an MCU crossover might seem to be pitting Spider-Man and Venom against each other, having them join forces "buddy cop"-style could be even more fun.
Venom's Best MCU Crossover Is A Buddy Cop Movie With Spider-Man
At this point, Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Tom Hardy's Venom are both established as cinematic superheroes, even if Venom does enjoy eating people from time to time. Since the characters have no history with each other in this universe, it wouldn't really make sense for them to immediately be at odds. They're not even operating within the same city, as this Venom is at large in San Francisco instead of New York. Therefore, if and when Venom makes the leap into the MCU, the more interesting course of action would be to have he and Spider-Man team-up to take down a dangerous supervillain, or perhaps a formidable group of villains like The Sinister Six.
Spider-Man and Venom are always an odd pairing to be sure, but that's the same dynamic that helps make the best "buddy cop" movies into success stories. Mismatched partners that still get the job done is a timeless storytelling trope, and with both Holland's Spider-Man and Hardy's Venom already having lots of wacky situations under their belt, as well as Peter Parker's penchant for quips, applying that type of formula to a Spider-Man and Venom MCU crossover could very well work like a charm. Once they've interacted, there's no reason Spider-Man and Venom couldn't still square off down the line either.
