Venom star Tom Hardy has revealed that he would be extremely open to a crossover movie with Tom Holland's Spider-Man.
Speaking as part of a lengthy Esquire profile piece for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Hardy opened up on the prospect of locking horns with Peter Parker's alter-ego. Suffice to say, we'd also be very interested in watching Spider-Man and Venom duke it out (and conveniently forget 2007's Spider-Man 3 meetings between the pair in the process).
Asked if he'd be keen on a crossover event involving both characters, Hardy said: "I wouldn’t be doing the job if I wasn’t awake and open to any opportunity or eventuality or be excited by that.
"Should both sides be willing, and it be beneficial to both sides, I don’t see why it couldn’t be. I hope and strongly, with both hands, push, eagerly, towards that potential, and would do anything to make that happen."
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Hardy's comments are sure to reignite fans' desire to see the duo share the screen again.
As we mentioned earlier, Spider-Man and Venom have appeared in a live-action movie adaptation. But, given how poorly that film was received, another outing involving the webslinger and the symbiotic anti-hero would surely do them justice this time around, especially if Marvel Studios – with their track record – were heavily involved.
The chances of such an occurrence are, at present, unlikely. We don't know how Spider-Man: No Way Home or Venom: Let There Be Carnage will end yet so, unless their finales set up a potentially unexpected meeting, we don't think that Hardy and Holland will cross paths in the near future.
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That's not to say we won't speculate on their pair somehow encountering one another.
We've already theorized how Holland's version of Spider-Man could cross over into the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (SPUMC).
To quickly sum that up: if Holland's Spider-Man has to save the MCU by closing a multiversal portal (thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse's arrival) to the SPUMC, and the only way he can do so is by closing it from the other side, he could permanently get trapped there and eventually cross paths with Venom.
And, honestly, it's something we could see happening. Holland has confirmed that No Way Home will be the final entry in his Spider-Man trilogy, but he'd return "in a heart beat" if asked to do so. Holland doesn't specify, though, that he'd return as part of the MCU or Sony's universe, which leaves the door open to the latter possibility.
Like the MCU, the SPUMC is teasing some sort of connectivity between its various characters, with Morbius' director having already seemingly leaked that Venom will appear in the vampiric anti-hero's 2022 flick.
Meanwhile, Michael Keaton's Vulture – who was the antagonist of MCU movie Spider-Man: Homecoming – surprisingly turned up in Morbius' first teaser trailer. This was our first indication that the MCU and SPUMC may be more connected than we previously thought and, if Vulture can cross over into Sony's universe, Spider-Man has the opportunity to do so, too.
Given the likelihood that the SPUMC's various characters will bump into one another, then, could there be plans to introduce Spider-Man into the equation?
In our opinion, it's plausible. Sony holds the rights to the character after all and, if his MCU journey is over, the studio would be silly to let him go, especially with how popular Tom Holland's version of Peter Parker has been.
Hardy told Esquire that he's begun to think about the plot for Venom 3 (though Sony is yet to greenlight another instalment). Depending on how No Way Home and Let There Be Carnage play out, Spider-Man would be an ideal inclusion in any Venom 3 storyline – and it would certainly get us and other Marvel/Spider-Man fans excited if it did happen.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is currently set for release on September 24 in the US and September 15 in the UK. Spider-Man: No Way Home will launch on December 17.
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As TechRadar's senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You'll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.
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