"I Had No Spider-Man! No Avengers!": VENOM Star Tom Hardy Gets Candid On Why MCU Crossover Never Happened

"I Had No Spider-Man! No Avengers!": VENOM Star Tom Hardy Gets Candid On Why MCU Crossover Never Happened

Venom star Tom Hardy has talked more about the restrictions that came with playing Sony Pictures' Lethal Protector, and gets candid about why the Spider-Man crossover fans expected never came to fruition.

By JoshWilding - May 10, 2025 08:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Venom
Source: Esquire

When The Amazing Spider-Man 2 underperformed both critically and commercially in 2014, Sony Pictures finally relented and made a deal with Marvel Studios to bring Peter Parker into the MCU. 

Andrew Garfield was unceremoniously dumped from the franchise, and Tom Holland was cast as the new Spider-Man in time for 2016's Captain America: Civil War. The two studios now share the profits from Spidey's solo outings, but that hasn't stopped Sony from looking to monetise the hero's rogues' gallery with a series of mostly disastrous spin-offs.

Venom, however, was a huge hit in 2018, while Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Venom: The Last Dance performed admirably (the sequel was released during COVID, while the latter came at a time when many moviegoers had given up on Sony's Marvel Universe). 

Despite that, the prospect of Spider-Man and Venom crossing paths was first teased in Let There Be Carnage's post-credits scene. Spider-Man: No Way Home's stinger sent Eddie Brock back where he came from, and that was that. 

In an interview with Esquire, Tom Hardy talked more about the crossover that never was. "I loved playing Eddie in Venom," the actor started. "Juggling chainsaws. Put me on a unicycle and throw everything at me! I was just really trying to push myself as much as I could."

"But I had no Spider-Man! No Avengers! It’s just us. Until those bridges are crossed," he trailed off. "That’s way beyond my control. And I’d love to do that, but that’s not even a conversation to have at my level, of just being an actor in that world."

Hardy added, "That’s the game. We played in the Sony counterpoint to Disney’s Marvel panoply, of which [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige has a huge amount of cards, and Sony has a huge amount of cards in its own right, including Spider-Man, and then there’s just no crossover. We’d love to cross over! That’s not happened. That’s what happens, and it’s one of those things."

Chances are, Feige never wanted Venom in the MCU, and Sony pushed for those scenes simply because it would increase interest in the Lethal Protector's franchise. There was some chatter about Spider-Man: Brave New Day featuring Hardy's Symbiote, but that no longer looks likely (unless the actor is trying really hard to throw us off the scent). 

"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," Hardy said in another recent interview. "We were given a set of boundaries, and we were just really privileged to be able to play with a much-beloved IP like Venom in a way that we were allowed to play."

Rumours persist that Spider-Man will get the alien costume in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars; if so, we'd bet on Marvel Studios having its own plans for Venom, with the story likely to play out in Spider-Man 5

Mac Gargan was a host for the Venom Symbiote at one time in the comics, so we could even end up with a Scorpion/Venom hybrid.

Are you disappointed that Hardy's Venom never met Holland's Spider-Man?

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Blergh
Blergh - 5/10/2025, 8:52 AM
Again: they could have just used Andrew Garfield, set the universe clearly in his world and all would have been fine.

Only that Andrew is persona non grata at Sony events because he “shamed” Amy Pascal and the former Sony heads by admitting that TASM2 wasn’t good
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/10/2025, 9:01 AM
@Blergh - I don't think they were allowed to use Spider-Man at all in any live action movie unless they did it with Marvel.

That's why they never even mention Peter's first name in Madame Web.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 5/10/2025, 9:03 AM
@Blergh - Obviously the big exception to that rule was the stinger in Venom 2 where it leads into NWH. I think originally Venom was to have a larger role in that movie but was reduced to just that one scene after the reaction to Venom 2 was so negative.
NonPlayerC
NonPlayerC - 5/10/2025, 10:02 AM
@Blergh - I never liked any of these venoms. I think I just don't like venom as a hero or anti hero. He's best as a villain. they could have done an alien/predator and Dr Jekyll/Mr.Hyde type of movie and established him as a violent rampaging monster where Eddie loses his mind to the symbiot (and I wasn't a fan of the talking head venom) Marvel would have been begging Sony to use him in some sort of crossover
HammerLegFoot
HammerLegFoot - 5/10/2025, 9:03 AM
@JoshWilding this is the second time I've noticed when you've gone to say "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" you've actually said "Spider-Man: Brave New World" or this time "Brave New Day lol, are you doing this on purpose if so its hilarious, if not its still hilarious
DocSpock
DocSpock - 5/10/2025, 9:09 AM
@HammerLegFoot -

It is indeed hilarious.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 5/10/2025, 9:08 AM

The time for creepy Garfield Spidey has passed. The time for sh!tty Venom has passed.

Holland Spidey MUST come home with the goo on his shoe from Secret Wars so we can get the epic MCU Spider-Man vs. Eddie Brock Venom trilogy that everyone in the universe wants.



Slotherin
Slotherin - 5/10/2025, 9:50 AM
@DocSpock - man, I def don't want a whole trilogy out of Spidey vs Venom. 2 movies maybe, one having the suit and the other having Venom. But a trilogy of it sounds exhausting.
Thing94
Thing94 - 5/10/2025, 10:26 AM
We need a Venom / Aunt May Spy crossover
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 5/10/2025, 10:38 AM
While I was not a fan of the SUMC Venom films (haven’t seen The Last Dance though) , Hardy was pretty much the only reason to check them out given how much fun he seemed to be having in his dual roles…

The “bromance”/buddy comedy take they did on Eddie & Venom while perhaps not to everyone’s liking showed the chemistry Hardy could have just with himself which is no easy feat for an actor so kudos to him.

User Comment Image

You could tell he was really trying to push himself in both roles to varying degrees though whether it was successful for one or not depends on your taste & sensibilities.

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