Almost as soon as Spider-Man finally made it to the big screen in Sam Raimi’s 2002 blockbuster, fans were clamoring to see Venom join him, but when the cult favorite antihero debuted in the third installment, they quickly wished it had never happened. The unpopular storyline was only added into the script at the studio’s request, and Raimi hardly disguised the fact that he didn’t have much interest in the character.
It didn’t help that Topher Grace was painfully miscast in the role of Eddie Brock, too, and was about as far away from his comic book counterpart as you could possibly imagine. Spider-Man 3 was a huge disappointment, no doubt about it, although it wasn’t quite the abject and irredeemable failure that some sections of the internet would have you believe. Still, everyone seems to be in agreement that the handling of Venom was nothing short of disastrous.
Tom Hardy’s 2018 effort, meanwhile, may not have found much love from critics, but the acclaimed actor was the undoubted highlight of the movie, which rocketed to over $850 million at the box office. But despite the strong reception from fans, it seems that Hardy’s Venom may not be the only take on the character that we’ll be seeing on the big screen. That’s because we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones that told us Ben Affleck would be back as Batman in The Flash weeks before it was announced – that Sony are also considering a surprise return for Topher Grace’s version of the symbiotic superhero.
Of course, such a thing would happen through the multiverse, meaning this would be an ‘alternate’ Venom and not the ‘main’ one, and while it’s unclear how or where this other take on the character would show up, we’re told that the studio has already reached out to the actor about reprising his role. Obviously, not too many people enjoyed his work in Spider-Man 3 as Venom, but a lot of folks weren’t terribly fond of Jamie Foxx’s Electro back when The Amazing Spider-Man 2 debuted, either, and look how happy they are now that he’s returning.
