Ever since the very first Spider-Man movie, fans have wanted one thing – a good adaptation of one of Spidey’s most iconic storylines, the Black Suit saga. For those who don’t know this story, it sees Peter Parker get a new sleek, black costume adorned with a massive white spider.
The suit is an upgrade to Peter’s classic red and blue pyjamas in every way imaginable. It creates its own webbing, responds to Peter’s thoughts, and can even mimic his street clothes, so he doesn’t have to get changed (Editor: Let’s hope it’s self-laundering as well).
There’s just one problem, the suit is actually a living being known as a symbiote, and it’s taking Peter’s body out for joyrides at night.
Rightly disturbed by this revelation, Peter removes the suit and returns to a traditional cloth costume. Unfortunately for Peter, the alien suit soon escapes and finds a new host, the disgruntled reporter Eddie Brock. Eddie and the symbiote bond becoming the Spider-Man villain Venom and a constant thorn in Peter’s side.
Venom and the black suit have been fan favourites for years, and they were adapted for the big screen once before. Both make an appearance in the 2000s movie Spider-Man 3, but their appearance in the film left a lot to be desired. There have been teases in both the Amazing Spider-Man films and the MCU movies that we might get a decent adaptation, but they’ve not paid off yet.
The news that the sixth Avenger’s movie will adapt Secret Wars, though, has us excited because we think it might give us black suit Spider-Man done right. Why? Well, while we expect Avengers: Secret Wars to be based mainly on the 2015 Secret Wars comic – a story that saw the multiverse collapse in on itself – it may pull a few plot details from the original ‘80s Secret Wars story.
This event saw various heroes, including Spidey, teleported to an alien world and made to fight. During one scuffle, Peter’s suit was damaged, and he was forced to make do without his web shooters for a while. Eventually, he found a machine that he believed made superhero costumes but was actually a symbiote prison.
Freeing the symbiote, it quickly bonded with Peter creating the iconic black suit we know and love. When Secret Wars was over, Peter kept his new alien costume, not realising it was an alien parasite. It’s possible then that Tom Holland’s Peter will encounter the symbiote during the events of Avengers: Secret Wars.
Once the battle against Kang (or Doctor Doom?) is done, then we imagine he’ll make his way back to Earth (and Spider-Man 4) wearing the new costume. This will have two benefits. First of all, it’ll give Disney a new Spider-Man action figure to sell (and Disney loves merch). Secondly, it will solve one of the biggest problems in adapting the black suit storyline – that it’s too big for one movie.
By introducing the suit in an Avengers movie, Spider-Man 4 will be able to streamline the adaptation by skipping over the suit’s rather dull origin and getting to the good bit. Namely, Venom.
The only wrinkle we can see is Venom’s No Way Home cameo. We saw Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) left part of his symbiote behind so why would Marvel bother setting that up not to pay it off? We’ll have to wait and see, but we think this is an elegant way of handling the storyline.
What do you think? If you love Spidey, check out our ranking of the best Spider-Man actors, or if you want to know more about the origins of the MCU’s Wallcrawler, check out our guide to Spider-Man: Freshman Year.