Will The Bartender In Spider Man: No Way Home Play A Big Role In The MCU's Future?

Spoilers ahead for "Spider-Man: No Way Home"

The great thing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that you never know when a character will come back into play. This was best exemplified by the return of Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." First introduced in 2013's "Iron Man 3" as the fake Mandarin, Trevor returned eight years later, this time as a vessel to assist Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) in getting to Ta-Lo.

This tendency of bringing back minor characters to play more critical roles down the line makes Marvel fans want to take a second look at any and all characters who could potentially be important, especially the bartender during the first "No Way Home" post-credits scene. At this moment, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom have a drink at the bar where they get clued in to all of the details surrounding the MCU by a bartender, played by Cristo Fernandez, best known for portraying Dani Rojas on "Ted Lasso." 

It may seem like a minor, one-off role, but something major happens during that scene that could have enormous implications for the future of the franchise. And it means we could see the bartender assume the mantle of one of the most famous antiheroes in Marvel Comics.

From the mid-credits scene, we see Eddie Brock present in the MCU before he's unexpectedly thrown back into his own universe. However, he leaves a small portion of the Venom symbiote on the bar. That means Venom is officially part of the MCU, and given how taken he was by Spider-Man in the "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" post-credits scene, it's safe to say he'll be hunting for Spidey any day now. But he's in a tropical paradise while Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is all the way in New York. 

That's a long way for a little symbiote to travel, so it's going to need to attach itself to a host (or hosts) to make it that far. That means we could theoretically see Cristo Fernandez's bartender again if the symbiote were to fuse with him to make it to New York. It would make sense, after all. It was a relatively minor role for such a recognizable actor to take. Plus, the actor's star is only further on the rise thanks to his prominent presence on "Ted Lasso," so he could play a significant role in the future mythos of Spider-Man.

Of course, it remains to be seen if he'll be the one-and-only Venom or if he'll merely function as a host for the symbiote until it can attach itself to an even more recognizable star. And that's if he even appears again. As Marvel fans know all too well, not every fan theory pans out, and it could've easily been a one-and-done appearance.