The MCU Already Introduced Its Venom Host
James Stevens Spider-Man: No Way Home set up the MCU's version of Venom - and Mac Gargan would be the perfect Venom host in Marvel's shared universe.
This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Spider-Man: No Way Home left a fragment of Venom symbiote in the MCU, and the MCU may have already introduced its Venom host. For many viewers, one of the major problems with Sony's various Spider-Man spinoffs, including the Venom films starring Tom Hardy as the tongue-slavering symbiote, is the fact they're unlikely to cross over with Tom Holland's Spider-Man. Thus they argue every non-Spider-Man movie removes a potential story from the MCU simply because Marvel Studios won't want to do a rinse-and-repeat.
There's a sense in which Spider-Man: No Way Home feels like a response to this criticism, introducing Peter Parker to the idea of the multiverse. What's more, audiences shouldn't assume the multiversal adventures of Spider-Man are over; back in 2019, when Marvel and Sony renewed their Spider-Man deal, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige made what seems to be a promising observation. "[Spider-Man] also happens to be the only hero with the superpower to cross cinematic universes," Feige noted in an official statement. He then went on to add: "So as Sony continues to develop their own Spidey-verse, you never know what surprises the future might hold."
But, even if Spider-Man doesn't head out into the multiverse again, the multiverse has left a lasting impact on his world. Venom: Let There Be Carnage's post-credits scene saw Eddie Brock transported into the MCU, appearing in Mexico of all places, and Spider-Man: No Way Home's post-credits scene sent him back home, but he left a fragment of symbiote behind. Clearly, this is set up, meaning the MCU can indeed have its own version of the Venom saga. But just who will the symbiote's main host be?
Marvel Is Unlikely To Repeat Eddie Brock
Marvel Studios is unlikely to want to do a simple rinse-and-repeat of Eddie Brock, the down-on-his-luck reporter who became the Venom host in the comics and has been played so effectively by Tom Hardy. While it's true the multiverse allows Marvel the option of doing so; the fact remains that the studio has never liked to repeat an idea that's been done elsewhere - explaining why they avoided telling Spider-Man's MCU origin story for years. They're particularly unlikely to do anything with Eddie Brock simply because that would naturally lead to comparisons between two different ongoing live-action iterations of Venom. Even if they were minded to do so, Sony would undoubtedly be frustrated at their choice, risking the collapse of the productive and successful deal between the two studios. All that means viewers are unlikely to meet the MCU's version of Eddie Brock anytime soon, so the Venom symbiote's most famous host can be ruled out of the mainstream Marvel Cinematic Universe. So who will his replacement be?
Mac Gargan Is A Venom Host In The Comics Too
Spider-Man: Homecoming introduced another potential Venom host from the comics: Mac Gargan, a criminal played by Michael Mando. A brutal criminal with an extensive criminal record, Gargan was captured attempting to purchase advanced weapons from the Vulture gang. As seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming's post-credits scene, he swore revenge on Spider-Man and even attempted to persuade Vulture to tell him the wall-crawler's secret identity. It's actually rather surprising that Mac Gargan never tried to get back at Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home when his secret identity was revealed to the entire world - but, to be fair, the Spider-Man threequel was already pretty packed, so in truth, it's understandable. Mac Gargan is currently something of a loose end in the first Spider-Man trilogy.
In the comics, Mac Gargan was hired by J. Jonah Jameson to undergo an experimental super-soldier procedure that transformed him into the Scorpion designed to be the ultimate weapon against Spider-Man. Most viewers are expecting Marvel Studios to tell a similar tale, but they forget he had another alias in the comics as well; Mac Gargan actually became host to the Venom symbiote, indulging in its more violent impulses and quite enjoying the bloodlust. Gargan even joined Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers as their version of Spider-Man, albeit a far more dangerous version of the wall-crawler. The experience of symbiosis gradually overwhelmed Mac Gargan's own personality, transforming him into a blood-crazed cannibal, and he had to undergo serious medical treatment to heal from his time as Venom. Marvel Studios could honor this arc by skipping Scorpion for now and instead transforming Michael Mando's Mac Gargan into their Venom.
What Mac Gargan's Venom Would Mean For The MCU
It's not hard to imagine a scenario where Mac Gargan stumbled upon the Venom symbiote. It's actually pretty common for fleeing criminals to head over the border to Mexico, mistakenly believing there's no extradition treaty between the two countries; Gargan could be one of those fugitives, perhaps taking advantage of the chaos of the MCU's Blip to escape justice and hide out. Thus he could potentially be in just the right place to stumble upon the fragment of Venom symbiote left behind by Eddie Brock and thus bond with it. Already eager for revenge on Spider-Man, he could then choose to use the newfound power of the symbiote to hunt down the wall-crawler.
There's already some evidence Marvel is building up to a Dark Avengers team, with Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine recruiting agents who serve as inverted mirrors of the Avengers - notably John Walker's U.S. Agent and Yelena Belova's Black Widow. Other potential members could include Abomination as the Hulk equivalent, and Agatha Harkness as the Scarlet Witch; Abomination made an unexpected return in Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings and will return in the She-Hulk Disney+ TV series, while Agatha Harkness' story is continuing in her own WandaVision spinoff. Mac Gargan's Venom would make a fine addition to the Dark Avengers, their own twisted version of Spider-Man.
Even better, this doesn't necessarily mean Marvel has to give up on the idea of the Scorpion. The experience of being bonded to a symbiote could leave Mac Gargan critically wounded, forcing him to agree to an experimental program that transformed him into Scorpion. This would be an inversion of the comics, where the Scorpion identity came first, but it would work - and Gargan's time as Venom could leave him with an even deeper, more obsessive hatred of Spider-Man. Spider-Man: No Way Home may not set up the MCU's Eddie Brock as Venom, but he frankly isn't necessary because Mac Gargan would be a far more interesting candidate.
