Tom Holland’s Venomized Spider-Man Steals From This Generation’s Best Sci-Fi Villain In Dark MCU Art

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While Tom Holland hasn’t been confirmed to be returning as Spider-Man in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the rumor mill has been spinning about his involvement. Many have speculated that this is the perfect time to give him his Venom upgrades, and this has been imagined in new fan art shared by @spdrmnkyxxiii on Instagram. This art gives the Venom Spider-Man an interesting twist by depicting him in the style of Vecna from Stranger Things, perhaps the most formidable villain of the modern era of TV, and this design would be perfect for Venom in the MCU.

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Why Vecna is the Perfect Blueprint for the MCU’s Venom Spider-Man

We’ve seen Venom on-screen a few times in previous Marvel movies developed by Sony Pictures. First, Topher Grace played Eddie Brock’s Venom in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 in 2007, while Tom Hardy took on the same role in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. The designs of these two Venoms were different, but shared many similarities. While Spider-Man 3’s version was more slight and human-like, whereas the SSU’s Venom was bulkier and more alien-looking. While both designs were reflective of the character’s Marvel Comics history, changing it up for the MCU would be the best decision Marvel Studios could make.

To set its design of Venom apart, Marvel Studios would benefit from leaning into the body horror and more gruesome aspects of the character, and this opens the door for Vecna to become inspiration. Vecna was originally Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower), a prisoner at Hawkins Lab whose controlled psychic abilities were unlocked by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who subsequently threw him into the parallel Dimension X after he massacred the other Hawkins Lab subjects. Creel became deformed in Dimension X and took control of a hive mind, allowing him to become a terrifying antagonist in the series.

While Sony’s Spider-Man Universe—particularly the Venom trilogy comprising Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Venom: The Last Dance—teased body horror elements, this was never the focus of Tom Hardy’s Venom. Venom bonding with Peter Parker, and others, is a gruesome and violent event, which should be spotlighted in the MCU. The Russo brothers might be the perfect filmmakers to make this happen in Doomsday and Secret Wars, and it would be great to see a more menacing and intimidating Vecna-style Venom, but only time will tell what the future holds for Venom and Spider-Man in the MCU.

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