Rumor or Fact: Who’s appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home?

Jared Leto (Morbius) is in Spider-Man: No Way Home — Not even rumored, but we must discuss!

Michael Morbius, a.k.a. Morbius the Living Vampire, is the next Spider-Man villain that Sony is giving his own flick. It’s all part of Sony’s plan to build out their own Spider-verse, which will revolve around the wallcrawler’s many villains. And while there aren’t even any rumors that Morbius (played by Jared Leto) will appear in No Way Home, the first trailer for the vampire’s solo film has our minds racing.

There are two things we need to draw attention to in that trailer: one is the appearance of Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. the Vulture, played by Michael Keaton. It’s not clear if Keaton’s character is the same Toomes as in Spider-Man: Homecoming or if this is a variant living in Sony’s part of the Multiverse, but the fact that he’s there at all is pretty exciting.

The other interesting tidbit is the mural Leto walks past at the 2:09 mark. It shows Spider-Man, with the word “murderer” graffitied across it. Could this be a nod to the fact that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was framed for the murder of Mysterio?

Well played, Sony. Well played.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter) is in Spider-Man: No Way Home — Rumor

Unlike Morbius, Kraven the Hunter is rumored to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it would be mind-blowing if it happened. Sony recently cast Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven in his own solo film, which will delve into the big game hunter and classic Spidey villain’s origin story.

Now, Taylor-Johnson has already been in the Marvel-verse as Pietro Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver, the brother of Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch. So if this happened it would be pretty crazy. And it also just might make sense, given how weird Marvel seems to be prepared to get with Phase 4.

But without any actual confirmation or studio leakage, for now Taylor-Johnson’s involvement in No Way Home is just words on the wind.

Tom Hardy (Venom) is in Spider-Man: No Way Home — Rumor…with a serious catch

And that brings us to our last rumored villain, Eddie Brock…better known as Venom. Played by Tom Hardy in his own films, Venom has already had one successful movie put out by Sony and is getting a sequel this September, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Venom is the character Sony has used to roll out their new bad guy-centered Spidey-verse.

Hardy appearing in No Way Home is a rumor without any real confirmations or leaks to back it up. However, there’s a pretty exciting catch to all this. Recently, Sony boss Sanford Panitch sat down with Variety to discuss where his company is heading with their own universe of movies (which they’re calling the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, or SPUMC). During that interview, Panitch was asked whether Spider-Man would ever cross over with Venom and the other characters Sony is trying to establish.

“We don’t really think of our 900 characters as the Spidey-verse. We have a Marvel universe,” Panitch said. “The volume of characters we have — you know, wait until you see this next ‘Venom.’ You don’t miss Spider-Man.”

Then he threw gasoline on the fires of fandom when he said, “It’ll be exciting if they do meet, right?”

Panitch expanded on the future of Spider-Man in the Sony-verse:

"There actually is a plan. I think now maybe it’s getting a little more clear for people where we’re headed and I think when No Way Home comes out, even more will be revealed. The great thing is we have this very excellent relationship with Kevin. There’s an incredible sandbox there to play with. We want those MCU movies to be absolutely huge, because that’s great for us and our Marvel characters, and I think that’s the same thing on their side. But we have a great relationship. There’s lots of opportunities, I think, that are going to happen."

And there you have it. A run down of all the major rumors floating around about which characters will be in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Given the speed of the internet, and the fact that Marvel could drop a trailer for the movie any day now, it’s entirely likely that in the coming weeks we’ll have a whole new wheelbarrow full of rumors and confirmations to sift through.

But for now, go forth, and be better informed!

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