Venom: The Last Dance will see Tom Hardy reprise his Marvel role as Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote once more, when the film releases in October 2024. The trailer of the Sony-Marvel project has already created a lot of talking points, especially with relation to the character’s connection to Spider-Man and the MCU.
While it is common knowledge that Venom is part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, there has been a lot of debate around his presence in future MCU projects after his appearance in the post-credits scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home. While Venom 3’s trailer also dropped a major hint regarding this, some fan theories believe that this may only be a red herring. This indicates that Hardy and his namesake Tom Holland could possibly never have a face off.
Is Venom Exclusive Only To Sony’s Spider-Man Universe?
There is a lot of expectations on Tom Hardy’s Venom 3 which is set to hit theaters on October 25th, 2024. The character who is seen as one of Spider-Man’s key nemesis in the comics, has raised a lot of discussions about a future face-off with the webbed superhero. Hardy’s post credit appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home was seen as an important link that could connect Sony’s Spider-Man Universe with the MCU.
The trailer of Venom 3 seems to have hyped up this possibility even more when viewers get a fleeting glimpse of the same waiter in the bar who appeared with Hardy in the post credits scene of Tom Holland’s film. In both scenes, he is confronted with the alien symbiote on the bar table. While this could lead to a lot of assumptions regarding the possibility of the two actors bringing the two universes together, a few fan theories believe otherwise.
According to one tweet on X, these scenes do not have any connection to each other, as Venom and Spider-Man belonged to different universes, which was also reasoned out in detail in the post. The netizen believed that this could simply be a misleading ploy on the part of Sony to get viewers hyped to see a possible clash between Holland and Hardy in the future.
This theory was also corroborated by MCU Film News who believed that the SonyVerse and the MCU are exclusive. Following these speculations, other viewers took to social media to express their opinions on the same. From the comments, it looked to be that many fans were still doubtful about how this would pan out.
So MCU variants exist in the Sonyverse?
— Jordan Jones (@jordnjnes) July 18, 2024
Hmmm, so did venom just teleport to another location in his own universe? Or same location in another universe with the same bar and bartender? Lol!
— Leo Rydel (@GeeklyGoods) July 18, 2024
Then why was it set in the MCU in No Way Home?
— Syed Hassaan Saeed (@Hassaansaeed22) July 19, 2024
I'd imagine that when Eddie and Venom teleported back to their universe, so did the piece of Venom left on the bar. Same location, different universe.
— otherkobb (@OtherKobe) July 18, 2024
but if that's the case, why cause more confusion?? why set up the same looking bar & the same actor at the bar but a different universe??
maybe the answer is to trick people to think it is in the same universe as the mcu we know for a cash grab but then we get disappointed— nerd (@squadUP23) June 3, 2024
While these are only speculative theories at present, fans will know for sure if things pan out in this manner for Venom and Spider-Man once the film comes out. If this assumption turns out to be right, then it will become clear that Holland and Hardy’s collaboration on screen will not happen for sure.
Venom 3 Will Be Tom Hardy’s Last Outing As Eddie Brock
There is a certain clairvoyance in the title of Tom Hardy’s Venom 3 which is set to hit theaters this fall. Titled Venom: The Last Dance, the 3rd film in this trilogy will be the final outing for the British star in his famous role as Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote. This was confirmed by Sony’s CEO Tom Rothwell to Deadline a couple of months ago.
In an appearance at the Cannes film festival this year, Rothwell revealed this news and elaborated on the reasons behind the production house culminating the Marvel anti-hero’s storyline after the 3rd film. He stated that Sony believed in the policy of doing full justice to their films by giving every one of their projects maximum time and effort before moving on to other scripts.
The larger point I’m making is that I think a healthy slate going forward is not going to be one side of the divide or the other. It’s going to have a balance of big IP solid sequels. Let me tell you when the last of the Spider-Verse movies comes with Phil Lord and Chris Miller, it’s going to be a significant event, as will the next Tom Holland Spider-Man film.
And when all the Karate Kid storylines come together with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan and a new young karate kid. For those fans, that’s going to be a significant moment. We have those. The third and last Venom, is going to be huge.
Rothwell also revealed that Sony’s other policy was to capture the imagination of diverse audiences through their films. Meanwhile, fans of Hardy and the franchise will be hoping for the character to end his reign with a bang.