WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, now in theaters.
The end-credits sequence of Venom 2 appears to feature Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote through the Multiverse into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as they watch the news story from the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home where J. Jonah Jameson has revealed Spidey's secret identity as Peter Parker. Venom then licks Spider-Man's face on the screen.
However, according to Venom 2 director Andy Serkis, they were well into the process before the filmmakers had even decided on how to handle the end-credits sequence and for a time, Tom Holland's Spider-Man was actually going to appear in the main plot of the film.
Serkis explained to the Hollywood Reporter that the whole movie was in flux well before he even signed on to direct the film. He noted, “[The mid-credits scene was] 100 percent in flux, yeah. It couldn’t have been more in flux-y if you tried. Yeah, of course, it was something that they talked about from before I even came on to the movie."
Ultimately, Sony had to determine how much (if any) the studio wanted to tie the film to Spider-Man (and, by proxy, the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and after giving it some consideration, the eventual decision was made to first concentrate on developing the world of Eddie Brock and Venom first before tying into Spider-Man.
As Serkis noted, "There were moments where he [Spider-Man] was going to be in the story, potentially, and then he wasn’t. But no, we decided that we wanted to really examine the Venom-verse first. "
However, once that decision was made, they still had to figure out how (if at all) they wanted to tie Holland's Spider-Man into the movie, and as it turns out, the final decision came surprisingly far into the process, as Serkis explained, "So as we were going through principal photography, the inevitable discussions had to be had, but it wasn’t until very, very late on that we reached the precise notion of the teaser that we wanted to lay in there.”
It is likely, then, that the precise nature of what the film's ending means are still unclear, as well.
Directed by Andy Serkis and starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams and Woody Harrelson, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is now in theaters.
Source: Hollywood Reporter