The Venom appearance in the brief mid-credits scene is a huge disservice, and it's not the way fans wanted Tom Hardy's Venom in the MCU. No Way Home followed Peter Parker (Tom Holland) as he dealt with the aftermath of his identity being revealed to the world by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal). Peter enlisted the help of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), which escalated the situation to a multiversal crisis. Unfortunately, after such a big buildup, Tom Hardy's Venom was an afterthought in the mid-credits scene.
The multiverse element of No Way Home's plot allowed for the inclusion of five villains from past Spider-Man franchises, not to mention the previous Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. What Marvel Studios and Sony put together in No Way Home is the closest they have come to adapting the Sinister Six on the big screen. With the help of Venom: Let There Be Carnage teased a Venom versus Spider-Man fight in the MCU. The Tom Hardy No Way Home post-credits cameo left a lot of viewers who were hoping to see Venom interact with Tom Holland's Spider-Man disappointed. It felt as though Venom's presence in the film was only meant to serve a specific purpose, which further cheapens the antihero's appearance.
The post-credits scene for Venom 2 went to great lengths to establish the animosity between the symbiote and Spider-Man through a a slither of Symbiote material behind).
Venom's MCU Appearance Was Just To Make Introducing Symbiotes Easier
The No Way Home Venom cameo was demeaning to the beloved character because it felt included only to make future MCU movies easier to write. The sole purpose of Tom Hardy's MCU cameo seems to be introducing the Venom symbiote into the MCU, a feat that could have been accomplished in a myriad of other ways. While this confirms that Holland's Spider-Man will face off against Venom at some point down the line in the MCU, it won't be Hardy's version of the character. This disappointing fact proves that Hardy's appearance in No Way Home was only meant to further the narrative and tease Tom Holland's next MCU Spider-Man trilogy, rather than include Venom in the MCU's sandbox or put together the long-awaited Sinister Six.
The duration and purpose of Tom Hardy's Venom in No Way Home is a huge disservice to the character and audiences hoping for him to be integrated more fully into the MCU. Rather than exploring the potential Venom could have in the MCU, his character was wasted and sent back to a universe where he cannot interact with Spider-Man or any other major Marvel character. Fortunately, Spider-Man: Not Way Home's mid-credits did confirm that Tom Holland will come face to face with a version of Venom in his next three Spider-Man movies–it just won't be the Tom Hardy version of the Symbiote in the MCU.
Why Tom Hardy's Venom Cameo In No Way Home Was So Disappointing
The Tom Hardy No Way Home appearance was set up at the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and the post-credits scene that transported Venom to the MCU teased a much bigger appearance. Venom sees Holland's Spider-Man on TV, licking the screen and remarking that "He looks delicious." The implication was clearly that the Symbiote wanted to go after Spider-Man. When it was confirmed that Spider-Man: No Way Home would come with a full roster of former Spider-Man villains from outside the MCU, fans quickly connected deliberately-placed dots. Venom is in the MCU, Spider-Man is fighting non-MCU villains, ergo, Spider-Man will be fighting Venom in the MCU. What fans got, however, was the reveal that Eddie and Venom had decided to spend their entire trip to Earth-616 in Tijuana getting drunk. While Spider-Man fans were certainly spoiled for choice with No Way Home's team of villains, not to mention multiple Spider-Men and a Charlie Cox Daredevil cameo, Venom's relegation to a post-credits scene was still noticeable.
Of all Spider-Man's comic adversaries, Venom is arguably the one fans have asked for most since Peter Parker ed the MCU. Especially after Topher Grace's disappointing rendition in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, a big-budget Spidey-Venom showdown has been high on the list of fan demands for years, second perhaps only to the Spider-Man and Venom fans.
On a deeper note, it also felt antithetical to the usual purpose of MCU post-credits scenes. Traditionally, Marvel has used the time after the credits roll to set up new stories. Many characters have been introduced to the MCU in post-credits scenes. Tom Hardy in Spider-Man: No Way Home is the only time an after-movie scene has been used to write a character out of the MCU rather than into it. He did leave a piece of the Symbiote behind but this wasn't much of a trade-off for most fans. Many saw it as making the situation worse since it showed Marvel had no ideas for how to introduce MCU Symbiotes beyond literally stealing one from a different studio's franchise. Venom is one of Marvel's most popular characters, and Spider-Man: No Way Home was a missed opportunity to have him guest-star in the MCU without majorly impacting either universe's canon.
