Home Entertainment MCU rumour round-up: New details of Sony’s Spider-Man deal, Agent Venom TV series, and Norman Osborn casting

MCU rumour round-up: New details of Sony’s Spider-Man deal, Agent Venom TV series, and Norman Osborn casting

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Following on from yesterday’s article in which we looked at the prognostications of Marvel Cinematic Universe sage Roger Wardell surrounding the X-Men and Fantastic Four, we’re tackling the next batch of rumours from the mysterious (and surprisingly accurate) scooper.

Let’s not waste any time and get right into the swing of things. And I don’t use that verb willy-nilly as we’re looking at Spider-Man and his amazing friends next. After a few frantic weeks last year in which it looked like Tom Holland’s Spider-Man would be removed from the MCU after Sony (who still own the movie rights) and Disney’s co-production deal broke down, a new deal was struck between the two studios. We don’t know too much of the specifics of this deal though, but Wardell hints that those details could be made public soon and will be very good.

One aspect of the deal that hasn’t been formalised but which we have seen hints of, is that Sony’s other Spider-related projects like Morbius and Venom 2 will be brought into the fringes of the MCU with only Tom Holland’s Peter Parker being the connective glue. A good comparison was previously made with how the Marvel Netflix shows referenced the events of the movies, but the movies largely ignored the shows. But that may not actually be the case – Disney and Sony may actually be collaborating much more closely.

In the comics, Agent Venom was the codename of Eugene “Flash” Thompson, Peter Parker’s high-school classmate. He’s currently played in the Spider-Man movies by Tony Revolori, whose spoilt rich kid is a very far cry from the jock bully in the original comics. Even in the comics though, Flash grew out of his jerk phase after high school, becoming a decorated and highly respected US soldier. During his tour of duty though, Flash sustains an injury which results in both his legs being amputated. However, he’s given a second chance to serve his country by being the government-sanctioned host of the Venom symbiote. As Agent Venom he regains full mobility and many powers, but can only bond to the symbiote for a max 48 hours at a time to avoid having his personality taken over.

As to how he would gain the symbiote for a Disney+ show though, that s a mystery seeing as it’s currently bonded to Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock in the Venom movies. But as Wardell claims, Sony wants Hardy to take up the role of Anti-Venom going forward after the upcoming Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

In the comics, years after giving up being the Venom symbiote’s host, Eddie discovered he had cancer. However, his condition was healed by the superpowered Mister Negative. When a portion of the Venom symbiote tries to bond with Eddie again, the superpowered antibodies in his body as a result of Mister Negative’s healing inadvertently mutates the symbiote into a new entity which becomes known as Anti-Venom. As Eddie discovers, this new symbiote is immune to Venom’s usual weaknesses of heat and acoustics, and it can emit antibodies that cure humans of a number of radioactive diseases and parasitic conditions and cancels out Spider-Man’s abilities when in proximity.

Speaking of the ol’ webhead, Disney and Sony have plenty of other villains to use for future movies. Longtime rumours have suggested that Kraven the Hunter will be the main baddie in the still-untitled third Spider-Man film currently scheduled for November 2021. Unless that flick gets delayed again, we should be hearing some production news very soon. News that may include one major villain casting.

I think Morrissey and Odenkirk are both great actors, but damn I’m definitely feeling the latter more. Odenkirk’s work on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is fantastic and I can see him knocking the role of Norman Osborn out of the park. Morrissey did show in his role as the Governor in The Walking Dead that he could play a complicated villain damn well though.

And if Wardell’s claim that Disney and Sony want to play the long game with Osborn before having the genius scientist/businessman turn into his maniacal, cackling, glider-riding, bomb-tossing Green Goblin alter ego, then we’re going to need an actor who can excel at being likeable as well as deranged. Thus far, the internet had fan-cast the likes of Jason Isaacs, Matthew McConaughey, Toby Stephens, Damien Lewis, and more. Personally, I had always leant towards Bryan Cranston, but now that the idea of his Breaking Bad co-star has been floated, I’m liking Odenkirk for the role more and more.

What do you guys think? And check back throughout the rest of this week when we look at more Marvel Cinematic Universe rumours.

Last Updated: July 7, 2020

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