Venom is getting his own animated movie, but what about the MCU?
Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal and Marvel's Kevin Feige say to keep hope alive
Tom Hardy's live-action Venom may have already had his last dance, but there's still hope for his symbiote-powered antihero to someday cross over with the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man. In a new interview with Spider-Man: Brand New Day producer Amy Pascal and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, the duo said fans should "have hope" that Peter Parker and Eddie Brock will one day meet.
Speaking with Happy Sad Confused podcast host Joshua Horowitz, Pascal and Feige addressed the possibility of Venom and Spider-Man finally meeting up in the MCU. The two Marvel characters very briefly existed in the same universe, and a crossover was teased in post-credits sequences in Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Thus far, the two haven't come face to face.
"It would be great," Pascal said when asked if the long-awaited clash of Toms would ever happen. "Let’s put it that way."
"Always have hope," Feige said, similarly offering no concrete answer to Horowitz's pleas.
Elsewhere in the interview, Pascal confirmed that Sony Pictures is working on an animated Venom movie. That project, which is being helmed by Final Destination: Bloodlines directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, is still years away. Hardy is reportedly involved in the animated Venom movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Venom in the MCU
Tom Hardy's Venom has thus far been relegated to Sony's Spider-Man Universe (Without Spider-Man), facing foes like Riot, Carnage, Knull, and Shriek across three live-action movies. Sony's shared universe largely focused on Spider-Man villains and allies, including Venom, Morbius, Madame Web, and Kraven the Hunter. Spider-Man himself has been more closely associated with Marvel Studios' MCU since 2016's Captain America: Civil War, in which he is portrayed by Tom Holland.
The split in universes arose from a deal between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures — which owns film rights to Spider-Man — to let Marvel "borrow" the wallcrawler for its popular live-action film franchise. Sony still owns the rights to a long list of Spider-Man-related heroes, villains, and other characters, and also produces the animated Spider-Verse series of films.
Spider-Man and Venom haven't appeared on-screen together in a live-action capacity since Spider-Man 3, in which Tobey Maguire and Topher Grace, respectively, brought the characters to life. Perhaps someday that will change, even if it's in a multiverse capacity. Who knows what will happen in next year's Avengers: Secret Wars?
Street-level Spider-Man
Horowitz also addressed the "street-level" Spider-Man characters in the superhero's orbit, including characters like Daredevil and Kingpin, who have been brought to life in live-action in Marvel Television's Daredevil series. Spider-Man: Brand New Day brings some street-level characters, including Jon Bernthal's Punisher, to the MCU's Spider-Man, and Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil) briefly appeared in No Way Home. But Horowitz asked if certain rights issues are holding up characters like Kingpin and Daredevil being part of the wider MCU.
"They’re not [rights issues]," Feige said. Instead, he chalked it up to "there are things to navigate, like everything else" in discussions between Sony and Marvel.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens in movie theaters on July 31. Within a year, we'll get one more Spider-Man movie, with Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse finally bowing in theaters on June 18, 2027, and concluding the Miles Morales trilogy.