Venom: The Last Dance hasn’t shown any clear connections to including a Spider-Man, but I’m still optimistic that the movie may be finally setting up a tie to Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man universe. Sony’s non-MCU Spider-Man universe has been odd since its inception. While Spider-Man has an iconic gallery of rogues, it’s strange to have a movie universe featuring them without the Wall Crawler himself. It’s even stranger, given that Sony owns the movie rights to Spider-Man, so there shouldn’t theoretically be anything stopping them. However, three movies into the SSU and with another out soon, Spidey is missing.

I haven’t lost hope, though. Madame Web kind of introduced a Spider-Man, with the birth of Peter Parker happening towards the end of the movie. Now, it’s finally time for Venom: The Last Dance to clarify which Spider-Man is in this universe – and I’m convinced that it’s going to be Andrew Garfield.

The Sony Spider-Man Universe Still Doesn’t Have An Official Spider-Man

Even though Venom, the first movie of the SSU, doesn’t have any allusions to Spider-Man, I always figured the franchise just wanted to take its time and let the villains shine for a bit before introducing a hero. When Venom: Let There Be Carnage came out with no further clues, I became a bit more skeptical, but I thought that maybe the Venom movies just weren’t the place for him. Morbius actually featured Spider-Man graffiti in a trailer, and I was sure it was Parker’s time to shine. However, the image was edited out of the actual movie, and Spider-Man was nowhere to be seen.

Even Madame Web, which features the birth of Peter Parker in 2003, skirts the issue. Concept art reveals that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was going to appear, though it’s not clear exactly how (likely via the Multiverse). This leaves the franchise in a bit of an awkward spot. Either Spider-Man simply isn’t Spider-Man yet, or there needs to be some serious explanation as to where he’s been and why Venom seems to only tangentially recognize him when he’s transported to the MCU for a brief stint.

One Venom 3 Casting Makes an Amazing Spider-Man Connection Possible

In the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance, a surprise casting is confirmed. Rhys Ifan is briefly seen happily strumming a guitar in a van that Eddie presumably catches a ride in after being teleported back home from the MCU in the Spider-Man: No Way Home post-credits scene. This seemingly creates a problem for Venom’s universe being the same as Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man. Ifans plays Curt Connors in The Amazing Spider-Man, the scientist who becomes the mutated Lizard and attempts to turn the people of NYC into reptiles as well. However, here, Ifans is clearly not a lizard and possesses the arm he’s missing in TASM.

However, I think this might actually make the ASM connection more likely, not less so, and the key is Spider-Man: No Way Home. At the end of Peter’s last live-action adventure, he manages to heal his villains and return them to their home worlds. As such, it’s perfectly possible that Connors is healed of his reptilian condition (and re-grows his arm) and decides to step away from the sciences once he’s home with a true second chance. Connor is presented as a generally good person who takes a turn for the worst, and it makes sense that a multiverse escapade to put things in perspective encourages him to chase happiness in the form of relaxation and music.

Why Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man Makes The Most Sense For The SSU

Whether or not Rhys Ifans is playing a healed version of Curt Connors or not, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man simply makes the most sense of the established Spider-People for the SSU – the other established choices being Tom Holland’s or Tobey Maguire’s versions of the hero. Holland doesn’t make sense simply because it’s been well-established that the MCU and SSU are different universes. Venom is pulled from his universe before landing in the MCU, and Vulture is pulled from the MCU to the SSU. It wouldn’t be logically consistent to suddenly claim that they’re one and the same.

Moreover, Maguire’s Peter Parker already fought a completely different version of Venom. Though not particularly well received, Spider-Man 3 features a different Eddie Brock and Venom, so it wouldn’t make sense for the SSU to be his home world, either. However, Andrew Garfield never came across Venom, Morbius, or Kraven, and the visual aesthetic of his films most closely matches the SSU. Time will tell if and when Spider-Man shows up in Venom: The Last Dance or the wider SSU, but if he does, I’m still optimistic that Garfield’s Peter would be the most logical and exciting choice.