While it’s not quite the final bow for the 2024 movie schedule, it is time for Venom: The Last Dance to close the book on Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his snarky Symbiote. But, while the upcoming Spider-Man movie marks the end of Eddie’s journey, some are wondering if it’s going to be the start of something greater, including a potential face off against Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. On that subject, Hardy shared some somewhat confusing thoughts.
During Sony’s Friday night panel at New York Comic Con, there was a huge celebration of Venom’s long, strange tenure filled Marvel Cinematic Universe-adjacent antics. It was there that the Bikeriders star did address his wishes for a Spider-Man crossover, and why it hasn’t happened yet. I attended the panel on behalf of CinemaBlend and was able to observe his remarks from the Empire Stage. I think you’re going to be as bewildered as I am, as this is what he had to say on the matter:
I would love to fight Spider-Man. I would love to fight him now. I’m happy to fight Spider-Man today, 100 percent. I would never say never. We were specifically set up to bring Venom to a movie format, and that’s what we’ve done. The Last Dance is the final piece in that trilogy, and we’re really excited about that.
OK, so I get that Tom Hardy was brought on to make Venom a cinematic franchise that helps forward Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, while also keeping the friendly neighborhood web-slinger at an arm’s length. And we all know that Hardy would want to fight Spider-Man, as his franchise has been dancing around that possibility through moments like Venom: Let There Be Carnage’s end-credits scenes. But that isn’t exactly a clear statement as to why Eddie Brock hasn’t crossed paths with Peter Parker just yet.
This confusion comes at a rather interesting time, as Tom Holland’s Spider-Man 4 update is reigniting chatter about the next chapter in his own film series. Venom franchise vet and writer/director of The Last Dance Kelly Marcel also reinforced in this same panel that the priority has always been to portray the Lethal Protector on the big screen, while also vaguely alluding to some friendly neighborhood hijinks.
While Ms. Marcel does have her own remarks on the future, which included doubling down on the importance of Venom 3’s baddie Knull, it toed the same line that Tom Hardy was keeping. In terms of how Marcel addressed the future of eponymous antihero, here’s what she had to say:
This is the last Venom movie. We always saw this as three pictures. We wanted to tell Eddie and Venom’s stories in three movies, and the arc for Venom and Eddie closes here. But, as you know, there are lots of Symbiote stories in the canon. So there’s lots of places to go, and maybe there are even a few easter eggs in here that might still pay off. … I would love to see Venom and Spider-Man, but who knows?
So, if you predicted that the focus has been on Venom’s swan song, you can collect your winnings from whomever you made a wager with. Perhaps, in the post-release wave of press and rumblings, we’ll be able to get some more inklings of whether or not the Venom/Spider-Man face off people have been waiting for will even be possible.
But, if I was going to wager a guess, I’d say that this last dance is going to leave the door wide open for other Symbiotes to raise hell in the MCU. Provided, of course, that the demand for such festivities is present. Maybe Knull is going to be a crowd pleasing baddie that'll make his own Venom-esque leap into the big time?
On that note, you should probably go see Venom: The Last Dance and join in on the victory lap, which will start in theaters on October 25th. And, if you’re looking for a refresher course on Eddie Brock’s history as a Symbiote’s host, Venom is streaming on Disney+/Hulu, while Venom: Let There Be Carnage is currently streaming through Starz; which is an easy add-on to an existing Prime Video subscription.
