“Of course” Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will fight Tom Hardy’s Venom

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is finally opening in theaters next month. The movie features the return of Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, a journalist who gets possessed by an alien symbiote with a real passion for murder. This go-round, he’ll face off against serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), who gets possessed by a different alien symbiote who’s even worse.

It’s all very exciting, but let’s not beat around the bush: Venom is known first and foremost and an enemy of Spider-Man, and a lot of people are wondering when Tom Holland’s Peter Parker is going to throw down with Tom Hardy’s Venom.

That includes Venom 2 director Andy Serkis. “That’s the question on everyone’s lips,” he told IGN. “They want to know when Venom is going to meet Spider-Man.

"Personally, it’s never going to happen. I’m only joking, of course it’s going to happen. I think there’s so much… it depends on when you want to get there and also what the appetite is. If people want more Venom stories, than to jump straight to Spider-Man you could be missing out on so many great supervillain characters in between now and then….But yes, everyone wants to see Venom fight Spider-Man, so I think it’s appetite."

Tom Hardy also weighed in on the issue, serving up some truly epic word salad to Entertainment Tonight:

"There’s a Venom-Verse, you know, there’s a Spider-Verse, there’s multiverses, there’s all kinds of canon and lore and mythology to explore both laterally and forward in time. I think with the right people and the right planning, and feedback from the audience, and understanding it’s about making the right choices at the right time… Even with foresight of understanding where things may go already or they wish to go, it’s a combination of all those in the alchemy of what it will be."

So…that’s a firm maybe?

Will Tom Holland’s Spider-Man be in Venom: Let There Be Carnage?

Part of the issue keeping Venom and Spider-Man apart is the complicated legal situation involving the characters. Technically, Sony has the screen rights to both of them. However, Sony has entered into a complex joint custody agreement with Marvel where Spider-Man is concerned, so he’s able to turn up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But technically the Venom movies don’t take place in that universe, so it’s unclear whether the streams can be crossed.

Then again, as Hardy implies, with both Marvel and Sony making so many movies and TV shows that explore the multiverse lately, who’s to say what can and can’t be done? It’ll happen eventually.

Actually, it might already happen in the post-credits stinger for Venom: Let There Be Carnage. At the least, people who have already seen the movie are hyping that up:

A Tom Holland cameo, perhaps…?

Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens in U.S. theaters on October 1.

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h/t The A.V. Club, CBM