While the Venom franchise never received much in the way of critical acclaim, the trilogy had grossed around $1.8 billion worldwide by the time Venom: The Last Dance landed in theaters last year.
At the time, Tom Hardy said he was done playing Eddie Brock and, more recently, suggested he'd pushed for a crossover with Spider-Man that never came to fruition. So, is the only way he'll return if Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures finally make that happen?
ComicBook.com asked Hardy that question, and he responded, "No. I love Venom, and I had a great time doing that, so no."
While Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home teased the possibility of a meeting, it doesn't appear to be in the works for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Hardy could make a Multiversal cameo appearance as the Lethal Protector, though it doesn't seem likely.
Several months ago, there were rumours that Spidey and Venom would team up to battle Knull. However, it seems those were based solely on the fact that The Last Dance featured the God of the Symbiotes.
As for Venom 4, that was expected to revolve around Flash Thompson's Agent Venom before Kraven the Hunter flopped, and Sony put its spin-off plans on hold.
"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," Hardy said last week of Venom never getting to share the screen with Spider-Man.
"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," he continued. "And they don’t know why their favorite characters aren’t in films together."
"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. And in that [regard], we did what we could and what we loved doing."
"We poured all of ourselves into it within the remits of what we were allowed to do with him. And so the enjoyment of the work outweighed the limits of our possibilities with him because we just focused on what we were allowed to do. And we loved doing it," Hardy concluded.
He's since said that people embellished his comments, though it's obvious that Sony's deal with Marvel Studios closed the door on Spidey and the Lethal Protector crossing paths. As for Hardy saying he's down to return, we wouldn't put too much stock in that, seeing as he repeatedly said he was done playing Eddie last year.
Do you think we'll ever see Spider-Man and Venom share the screen?