Marvel Studios is enjoying a great run of success thanks to weekly releases for What If...? and the overwhelmingly positive theatrical run for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The latter's accomplishments are even helping the movie industry back into prominence as a whole, best seen with Sony Pictures pushing the release date for Venom: Let There Be Carnage up by two weeks.
Tom Hardy is set to bring back Eddie Brock and the human-hungry symbiote for a second solo adventure after 2018's Venom shocked the world financially and critically. Let There Be Carnage is looking to make an even bigger splash with more intense action and a full exploration of Woody Harrelson's Cletus Kasady from the original movie's post-credits scene.
With Sony's Spider-Man Universe having goals of expanding to new heights, fans are increasingly curious to see if the company will deliver some kind of crossover between numerous Spidey anti-heroes and the web-slinger himself.
Tom Hardy Hints at Spider-Verse Hopes for Venom 3
Venom: Let There Be Carnage star Tom Hardy spoke with ET Canada about where the franchise could go with a third movie after his sequel debuts in theaters on October 1, 2021.
In broad terms, Hardy looked at how each movie in a potential threequel has to use its own "infrastructure" to make the story work and how the following movies build on what was successful in previous outings:
"I think you’ve gotta always look at… With these things that come in threes at the moment, and if they progress further, then it’s normally the initial blocking of the infrastructure or a set of franchise movies will be one, two, and three, and done. So, when Venom 1 was presented, it was presented, if it was successful, with the two, and if that was successful, with the three. So one has to look at the whole overarching option."
After setting the standard for the character, the process then turns to putting them "on a journey" and looking for new ways to "go bigger" from movie to movie:
"First, you establish a character. If people like it, then you take them on a journey. Obviously, Carnage, he’s a high priest in that aspect in the arcana of the characters. It’s like ‘Wow, you’ve got to go bigger,’ or you go lateral and build the world you continue to unpack."
Hardy went on to tease the existence of a "Venom-Verse" alongside the widely popular Spider-Verse, mentioning plenty of "canon and lore and mythology" that could be explored in the future.
Teasing the potential of having "the right people and the right planning," Hardy seems excited about where a third Venom movie could take the anti-hero:
"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."
Hinting at More From Sony and Marvel?
While Tom Hardy certainly did his job at keeping his teases for a potential threequel vague, his comments lead to interesting possibilities for where the Venom franchise could continue to go.
Fans are continually hoping for some kind of crossover between the MCU's Spider-Man and Sony's continually expanding universe since the company still owns the rights to everything Spider-Man. With Hardy mentioning the idea of "the right people and...planning," he could be hinting at something having to do with that crossover becoming a reality someday.
Hardy's specific mention of multiverses should send waves through the news stream, especially with the MCU diving fully into that concept soon. Starting with Loki and continuing into Spider-Man: No Way Home and more, the narrative expansion into multiple realities could easily open the door to Venom and other Sony movies interacting with Marvel Studios' blockbusters.
Some of Marvel and Sony's top personnel have spoken about the chances of this coming to the big screen, although both universes remain in a completely separate existence from one another at the moment. Whether that changes for Venom 3 is a mystery, one that likely won't be solved for some time, but Hardy's teases do leave the door open for Sony to make it happen.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage will debut in theaters on October 1, 2021.
