Hollywood is a land of endless possibilities, unless, of course, you’re Tom Hardy trying to get Venom to officially tangle with Spider-Man. In a recent interview, Hardy let slip that a Spider-Man and Venom crossover was tantalizingly close to happening but ultimately slipped through his symbiote-covered fingers.
It’s a tragedy worthy of its own cinematic universe where Hardy, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland could have had the most chaotic, meme-filled showdown in superhero history. The idea of Venom and Spider-Man finally crossing paths has had fans buzzing for years.
Yet, despite all the hype and the perfect storytelling opportunities, something always seems to stand in the way. Why didn’t this happen? Was it an epic clash of creative differences? A Marvel vs. Sony corporate standoff? Or did the universe simply refuse to bless us with this glorious team-up? Hardy explains it all, but first, let’s dive into the heartbreak.
Spider-Man and Venom’s almost crossover that never was
It was the team-up fans had been waiting for, a Venom and Spider-Man showdown, packed with symbiote-fueled chaos and web-slinging acrobatics. The mere thought of Tom Hardy’s Venom standing toe-to-toe with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker or even Andrew Garfield’s wisecracking Spidey sent the internet into a frenzy of speculation.
Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Eddie Brock, a man reluctantly sharing his body with an amorphous, flesh-eating alien, has been a fan favorite ever since Venom burst onto screens. Love it or hate it, Hardy’s commitment to making his version of the character as hilariously unhinged as possible is undeniable.
And with Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures slowly warming up to the idea of interconnected universes like in Spider-Man: No Way Home, it seemed like only a matter of time before Venom would officially get tangled in Spider-Man’s web. And, according to Hardy himself, that nearly happened. In an interview with The Playlist, he said,
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.
That’s right, so close, yet so far. Fans have speculated for years about Venom’s potential role in the MCU, and Spider-Man: No Way Home gave us a glimmer of hope when Hardy’s Eddie Brock briefly appeared in a post-credits scene before being unceremoniously yanked back into his own universe. It was the cinematic equivalent of getting a single French fry in your order of onion rings, exciting, but ultimately leaves you wanting more.
The great corporate tug-of-war
So, why didn’t Tom Hardy’s Venom get a full-fledged crossover moment with Tom Holland or Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men? The answer, as always, lies in the tangled web of Hollywood rights and studio politics.
While Marvel Studios controls Spider-Man’s main storylines, Sony still technically owns the character’s film rights. This means every crossover or cameo has to go through a labyrinth of negotiations, legal battles, and, we assume, secret meetings in dimly lit rooms where executives trade character appearances like Pokémon cards.
Hardy’s enthusiasm for a crossover was never the issue, it’s clear he was all in. But between Sony’s Venomverse, Marvel’s Multiverse, and the ever-looming question of which Spider-Man gets to officially fight Hardy’s Venom first, the logistics turned into a cinematic chess match. And much like Eddie Brock trying to keep Venom under control, it seems the studios just couldn’t make it work.
Will it ever happen? Hardy hasn’t lost hope. And with superhero movies constantly reinventing themselves, maybe, just maybe, we’ll get the Venom-Spidey showdown we deserve. Until then, we’ll be watching Venom: Let There Be Carnage on repeat, imagining what might have been.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
