While Sony's upcoming Venom movie doesn't take place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that isn't stopping star Tom Hardy from hoping an Avengers crossover happens. While Marvel and Sony share the rights to Spider-Man (Tom Holland) himself, Sony is building a spinoff universe filled with characters from Spidey's rogues' gallery, such as Venom, Silver Sable & Black Cat. Whether Spidey himself will actually appear in any of these movies remains to be seen. Sony also has the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arriving in December, which features both Miles Morales (Shamiek Moore) and Peter Parker (Jake Johnson).
Aside from making blockbuster movies, Marvel has spent a great deal of time trying to bring all of its characters - which it had sold/licensed off to other studios in the 1990s - back under one cinematic roof. While they did ultimately get to use Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was revealed in August that Sony still has the rights to over 900 Marvel characters, many of which the studio will likely use to create their own Spidey universe.
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A report earlier this month alleged that Venom was rated PG-13 to help facilitate a future potential crossover with the MCU's Spider-Man, and if that's true, it'll likely be music to Hardy's ears. During an interview with MTV, the actor discussed the movie's PG-13 rating, stating that its content can easily veer into R-rated territory, but adding that Venom isn't a character that kids are necessarily scared of, since his kids play with both Spider-Man and Venom toys. He then casually added he'd love to "run through all the Avengers," before noting that such a decision is above his pay grade.
Hardy then asked his co-star Riz Ahmed to start a campaign to get the Avengers to "pull us up," before adding that he'd be fine if they continued on as a standalone universe, referring to the 900 Marvel characters Sony has the rights to. When asked how he thought Venom would get along with the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Ahmed jumped in and said, "He'd just eat all of them," adding that he thinks Venom and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) would be a good match-up While that very may well be true, unless such a crossover is confirmed (or Disney just eventually buys Sony Pictures), it seems unlikely fans will get to see Hardy's Venom tangle with Holland's Spider-Man on the big screen.
The future of these potential spinoffs and crossovers likely depends on how big Venom opens, with a report from earlier this month projecting the film will break the October opening box office record. The movie is estimated to take in between $60 million and $70 million, easily eclipsing the prior October record of $55.7 million set by Gravity. A big opening like that could set the wheels in motion to get Venom into the MCU somehow, which could potentially lead to a showdown between this version of the Symbiote and Spidey himself. While nothing may be set in stone yet, the chances would be much greater after a big debut from Hardy and company.
More: Venom VFX Supervisor Details The Movie's New Origin For Symbiotes
Source: MTV
