When Venom was released by Sony Pictures, Tom Holland's Spider-Man was already part of the MCU. There were vague rumblings that Tom Holland's Peter Parker was meant to be among those visiting the Life Foundation on a school trip, though he wasn't among the kids who briefly crossed paths with Carlton Drake.
Then, in Venom: Let There Be Carnage's post-credits scene, Tom Holland's Eddie Brock was transported to the MCU, where Venom took an immediate interest in the hero.
Despite that, there was no sign of him in Spider-Man: No Way Home until another post-credits scene sent the anti-hero home...but not before he left a small piece of the Symbiote behind. Venom: The Last Dance quickly moved on from the Multiverse and those Spider-Man teases, leaving fans relieved and frustrated in equal measure.
Tom Hardy has shared conflicting comments about potentially scrapped plans for Spider-Man and Venom to meet on screen. The Hollywood Reporter spoke to the actor this weekend and put it to him that he'd said "studio politics" ultimately "killed" the crossover.
"I didn’t say that, at all. That’s kind of moved on from a very simple quote that I said specifically about my children watching Venom," he started. "It’s hard to explain to a young child why their favorite superheroes can’t be in a film together and that’s such a shame. And we almost got it, but it didn’t happen, which is the truth. It didn’t happen."
"And we almost got together because I remember being in the Spider-Man movie and you know it was connected, and it just didn’t happen. The trilogy is now over and it didn’t happen. So, it didn’t get killed by anything, it just didn’t happen."
"I’ve been misquoted there. People get excited about anything Venom or anything to do with superheroes and stuff and it’s sort of taken on another life. I just want to be clear that I didn’t say that," Hardy reiterated.
Pushed on whether there were ever any real talks, the actor explained, "There are always talks, but that doesn’t mean that things manifested. There’s a future where these things will continue to be talked about until something is realized and I’m sure it will be at some point, but it just didn’t happen with me."
"Now there’s Mad Max: The Wasteland," Hardy laughed. "There are lots of things that are discussed, but they haven’t happened yet."
Why did Sony tease a crossover that never happened? Well, it was likely to boost interest in the Venom movies, and for the most part, that paid off for the studio.
We still don't know why Sony couldn't reference or use a different Spidey to bring Venom more in line with his comic book counterpart, though rumours continue to swirl that Peter will get his alien suit in one of the upcoming Avengers movies.
Do you think Spider-Man and Venom will ever share the screen again?