For many comic book fans, Venom‘s a character whose existence and origins are inherently linked with his old pal Spider-Man, which puts a considerable amount of pressure on director Ruben Fleischer’s upcoming movie to convince audiences that Eddie Brock and his symbiote alter ego can thrive on their own terms.
But that doesn’t mean some form of crossover can’t happen down the road. Already, we’ve heard that the only reason the spinoff went for a PG-13 rating was so that the franchise could potentially bring in Spidey at some point and now, star Tom Hardy’s expressed interest in seeing Venom not just interact with Peter Parker, but the rest of the Avengers, too.
Speaking with MTV this week to promote the film, here’s what the actor said:
“My littlest ones, they watch Spider-Man and Venom quite comfortably…so it’s not like they’re scared by him. At the same time, there’s a lot within the real estate that you can actually imbue with a complete sense of gratuitous violence, and if you wanted to I think you’ve got the right people for that job if you want to push, because that’s where I’d love to go, and I’d love to go through all of the Avengers as well with him, but that’s above my pay grade. I want to run with the established family though, why not?”
Meanwhile, Hardy’s co-star, Riz Ahmed, was on hand as well and opened up on what would happen should the symbiote ever cross paths with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
“I think he would just try to eat all of them,” Ahmed says. That’s the thing with Venom it’s not really so much like good and evil. It’s like ‘Am I hungry, or am I not? And if I’m hungry, I’ll try and eat you.’ You might try to eat the Hulk. I think Venom and Hulk is a good matchup.”
Hardy adds, “He’s more about himself. He’s a very self-centered character and contained in that aspect. He who has the biggest hands eats the most. He’s quite mercenary in that aspect.”
While there’s been no firm confirmation that Venom will one day venture outside the confines of Sony’s Marvel Universe, it seems highly likely that it’ll happen should the pic prove successful. Remember, we once thought it’d be impossible for the wall-crawler to be an onscreen Avenger, but now it’s a reality.
Could Eddie Brock eventually find himself up against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, then? Perhaps, but first, Venom needs to slither into theaters on October 5th so that Sony can gauge the reaction and response to the symbiote. Although, with box office analysts predicting a strong opening weekend in the region of $60M, it certainly seems as if the PG-13 rated movie is on the verge of becoming one of fall’s biggest releases.