"We Got Close": Tom Hardy Addresses Plans For Venom Crossover With Tom Holland's Spider-Man & Why It Didn't Happen

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Tom Holland"s Spider-Man almost got to have his big Marvel showdown with Tom Hardy"s Venom according to Hardy"s recent explanation of just how close the crossover came to becoming reality. Throughout Sony"s Spider-Man Universe, many were expecting Peter Parker to eventually make his way into the franchise, whether it would be with Holland or a different actor as the web-crawler. Even though fans never got to see Hardy"s Venom take on Holland"s Spider-Man, it turns out that it may not have been as impossible as some initially thought.
In a new interview with The Playlist"s The Discourse Podcast, Hardy was asked if there were attempts to do a crossover between Spider-Man and Venom with Holland and Hardy, and if studio politics got in the way of that type of event. According to Hardy, it turns out that Sony"s Spider-Man Universe did get close to staging an opportunity for Holland"s Marvel Cinematic Universe hero to finally meet Venom, as the British star revealed the following:

We got close. We got as close as I could possibly imagine getting, apart from doing a film together, which I would have loved to have done because that just means so much fun. And for all the reasons that you explained ultimately in there... Fundamentally, for me, it would be for the kids. Because, you know, as much as adults love superhero films, as you can tell by the box office when they’re successful, I think I’m constantly reminded by children how important these characters are. And they don’t know why their favorite characters aren’t in films together.

What Tom Hardy's Comments Mean For Venom & Spider-Man Close Even though Hardy couldn"t get too specific about it, it"s fascinating to hear more about how close the world got to a showdown between Venom and Holland"s Spider-Man, especially given the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. While he doesn"t specifically mention it, it wouldn"t be shocking if the ending of Venom: Let There Be Carnage was originally going to be the starting point of them finally coming together in an MCU crossover. Despite having an appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home while being stuck on Earth-616, Eddie never got to meet Holland or the other Spider-Man variants.
While Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have an ongoing deal where they are sharing Holland"s Spider-Man, it was revealed in a Variety 2024 report that their specific arrangement didn"t prevent the web-slinger from appearing in Sony"s Spider-Man Universe. Instead, Sony executives were allegedly concerned about a possible scenario where audience members "would not accept Holland’s Spidey suddenly popping up in a live-action film that wasn’t a part of the MCU." But, as Hardy pointed out, it would have been a dream come true for fans to see Venom and Spider-Man to finally share the screen together.
Our Take On Tom Hardy's Crossover Comments

From everything Hardy was able to share about the scrapped Spider-Man/Venom crossover, it is clear that he was just as eager to see it as fans have been over the last couple of years. While Hardy"s Venom trilogy has come to an end, there is always the chance that upcoming MCU films like the Avengers installments in Phase 6 could finally bring Eddie into the fold and finally meet Holland"s Spider-Man. But for now, Marvel fans will just have to wait and see if Holland"s Spider-Man and Hardy"s Venom are getting anywhere closer to finally having a proper battle in live-action.

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a multimedia superhero franchise that began in 2008 with Paramount's Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. The franchise quickly grew in popularity, with Disney eventually buying out Marvel Entertainment in 2009. The MCU consists of dozens of movies and TV shows, most notably Avengers: Endgame, WandaVision, and Loki.

Venom The Venom franchise is a series of superhero films based on the Marvel Comics character Venom, produced by Sony Pictures as part of their Spider-Man Universe. The franchise began with the 2018 film Venom, which tells the story of Eddie Brock, a journalist who becomes the host for an alien symbiote, giving him superhuman abilities. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a commercial success, leading to a sequel and further expansion of the franchise.

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