The British actor Tom Hardy is a fan favorite for playing Venom in Sony’s shared Spider-Man universe. The actor has done a phenomenal job playing Eddie Brook and simultaneously the symbiote, Venom. Venom has developed as a franchise of its own in the Spiderman universe. There have been two films until now, with the first coming out in 2018. The first film was grilled by critics but fans seemed to love it, including me. However, it was China’s box office that helped Venom become a success as it grossed over $269 million in the Land of the Dragon. That was more than its home collection. With a $856 million run at the worldwide box office over a budget of $116 million, it was only inevitable that we get a sequel and we did.
In 2021, the second film of the franchise- Venom: Let there be Carnage released in theatres and it did decently considering the post pandemic era. The film was made on a budget of $110 Million and its final worldwide collection was $502 Million. Only months from the second film’s release, we had a confirmation of the third film’s existence. However, did you know that while for now the franchise exists in isolation to the MCU, originally Sony wanted the franchise to be linked to the MCU in a key way?
Spider Man: No Tom Holland For Sony!
Sony’s original plan with Tom Hardy’s Venom was that he will meet Tom Holland’s Spider-Man who had by then debuted in the MCU and appeared multiple times in crossover films. However, when they pitched this idea to Marvel, it didn’t stand for long. Tom Hardy has previously stated that he’d do anything to make a crossover happen but the most he did was what we saw in the Venom post credit scene, where Hardy’s Venom appears in Universe in Earth 616 and calls Tom Holland’s Spider-Man delicious.
However, Venom didn’t appear in No Way Home as well and we didn’t Hardy and Holland face each other. He did appear in the post credit scene though but that too was just to introduce the Venom symbiote into the MCU. For now it looks like this crossover is never going to happen. However, one of the stipulations that have been introduced in the new contract that Marvel signed with Sony is that the franchises will likely connect in the future and we’ve seen glimpses of it in No Way Home.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield returning as Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Rhys Ifans, Jamie Fox and Thomas Haden Church returning as Green Goblin, Dr. Octopus, Lizard and Sandman respectively. Tom Hardy making a cameo. Also, we saw Vulture played by Michael Keaton in Morbius which suggests a weird crossover of sorts.
Venom 3 doesn’t have an official release date yet.
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