A new photo has spoiled the inclusion of Tom Hardy’s Venom universe in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
While the first Spider-Verse film dipped its toe into the Multiversal pool, Spider-Verse 2 is set to take a full-on swan-dive into the deep end of Multiversal storytelling.
This “grand” Spidey story has been teased to include over “240 unique characters” from across multiple worlds of Marvel animated wall-crawlers.
Amongst these have been rumors of unique universes including a LEGO one, and the potential for live-action web-heads like Tom Holland to appear as well.
Tom Hardy’s Venom-Verse in Spider-Verse 2
A photo posted by Spider-Man’s official Vietnamese Facebook account revealed Venom‘s Mrs. Chen will appear in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
The character from Tom Hardy’s Venom franchise can be seen in the image alongside Jason Schwartzman’s The Spot.
The text accompanying the post roughly translated to say that the “Venom live-action universe will also feature in the Spider-Verse:”
“After the LEGO universe, the Venom live-action universe will also feature in the Spider-Verse. And there will be more exciting things to be revealed!”
On the image itself, a caption (written in Vietnamese) also read, “Tom Hardy’s Universe appears in Spider-Verse 2.“
This comes after rumors claimed that Peggy Lu’s Venom corner store owner would appear in Spider-Verse 2.
Who Else Is Hiding in Across the Spider-Verse?
After months of speculation regarding potential live-action cameos in Across the Spider-Verse, these images will only pour gasoline on the web-headed fire.
Given Tom Hardy’s propensity to play in the world of Marvel’s wall-crawler, with his Symbitoic character popping up in the end-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it would not be all that surprising he his Eddie Brock/Venom were to appear in the animated sequel.
But live-action Spidey characters beyond that remain up in the air.
Sony Pictures has been liberal in its use of both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men in trailers for Across the Spider-Verse; however, all that has been done by way of archival footage to set the tone of for Miles Morales’ next web-slinging adventure.
Tom Holland’s version of the hero got a shoutout in a recent look at Spider-Verse 2, with Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara calling out the “little nerd in Earth-199999” which furthered the case for the live-action hero popping up in the film, but as of right now, his appearance remains unconfirmed.
While months ago a live-action character in Across the Spider-Verse would have felt like a mere pipedream, the evidence is mounting that a full-fledged animation/live-action Spider-Man crossover may be on the cards.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on Friday, June 2.
