‘Venom’ Star Tom Hardy ‘Would Love to Fight Spider-Man’; Director Teases Future With Knull: ‘There Are Many Symbiote Stories to Tell’
Even though “Venom: The Last Dance” is his final outing in the Sony Spider-Man villain trilogy, Tom Hardy still really wants his iconic symbiote character to fight Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.
Hardy took the stage at New York Comic Con Friday night to showcase his upcoming movie, which hits theaters next week, and said he’s ready to fight Spider-Man “today.”
More from Variety
“I would love to fight Spider-Man. I would love to fight him now. I’m happy to fight Spider-Man today, 100 percent. I would never say never,” he said. “We were specifically set up to bring Venom to a movie format, and that’s what we’ve done. ‘The Last Dance’ is the final piece in that trilogy and we’re really excited about that.”
Hardy returns one last time as Eddie Brock, the human half of the Venom symbiote, in “The Last Dance” after starring in two standalone movies. Though it’s been teased over the years and Spidey fans have been begging for a crossover, he hasn’t battled the wall crawler yet.
However, there may be more symbiote-focused movies in the future. The most recent “Venom” trailer teased Knull, the evil, alien creator of the symbiote that was introduced recently in Marvel comics. There’s a brief shot of him in the trailer where he sits on a black throne with stringy, long white hair, just like the comics.
“This is just the introduction to Knull. He’s a massive, massive character so you can never be one-and-done with him. This is just a little taster of Knull. We get to meet him. What the future holds for him, who knows,” said director Kelly Marcel on stage. “The plot for Eddie and Venom closes here. But as you know, there are lots of symbiote stories in the canon. There are lots of places to go, and maybe there are a few Easter eggs in here that might start that journey off.”
“The Last Dance” picks up right after 2021’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” Per the official logline, “Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.”
Along with Hardy, the cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham.
Also coming this year is “Kraven the Hunter,” in which Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as the big game hunter from the Spider-Man comics. After the “Venom” films and “Morbius” received PG-13 ratings, “Kraven” will be the first Spidey spinoff to be rated R. The cast includes Russell Crowe as Kraven’s father, Ariana DeBose as his love interest Calypso, Fred Hechinger as his brother and the master of disguise Chameleon, Alessandro Nivola as the villainous Rhino and Christopher Abbott as the mercenary the Foreigner.
“Venom: The Last Dance” and “Kraven the Hunter” are the only movies with release dates in Sony’s “Spider-Man” universe. The animated “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse,” the final movie in the dimension-hopping trilogy starring Miles Morales and a slew of other wall crawlers, has remained undated since it was delayed. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Shang-Chi” director Destin Daniel Cretton has signed on to helm a fourth Tom Holland-starring “Spider-Man” movie, but it hasn’t been officially announced.
Holland revealed on a podcast this week that he and co-star Zendaya both read a script for “Spider-Man 4” recently.
“We have a creative and we have a pitch and a draft, which is excellent,” he said. “It needs work, but the writers are doing a great job. I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me. Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were bouncing around the living room like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect.”
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.