If I live to be a hundred, I’ll never quite understand Ruben Fleischer‘s “Venom.” I’ll never understand why Sony decided to go all-in on a character whose origin story is hopelessly intertwined with a character (then) outside Sony’s legal jurisdiction. I’ll also never understand the studio’s hesitance to commit fully to a darker or lighter tone with the film. To me, “Venom” is an odd property from both a creative and a legal standpoint, and the questions about a possible connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that came out around the time of the film’s release only furthered its position as something that Should Not Be.
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Apparently, this is a belief that Marvel executives and I share. While rumors have swirled for months now that Spider-Man actor and cheerful ball of energy Tom Holland shot a cameo for “Venom,” these have mostly existed in the world of hearsay and speculation. At least one person is willing to put themselves on the record, though. On a recent episode of Collider Live dedicated to the breakup between Marvel and Sony, co-host Jay Washington weighed in on those long-percolating rumors that Tom Holland was supposed to appear alongside Tom Hardy in “Venom.”
“And I’ll tell you the truth, Tom Holland did film a scene for ‘Venom,'” Washington explained. “I found this out. Marvel saw the movie, and was like, ‘Take him out. Take the scene out.’ So Tom Holland did- Peter Parker was in ‘Venom.’ Not Spider-Man. Peter Parker.”
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Peter Parker? Not Spider-Man? Hmm.
Of course, with Marvel and Sony parting ways, there’s nothing to keep Spider-Man, Venom, and the whole gallery of spider-rogues from collaborating going forward. Marvel was probably right to cut the cameo from the film regardless–even if the character ultimately forms the basis of a shared universe with Venom, it’s best to at least pretend like these characters are being developed organically–so no harm and no foul from a world-building perspective. It’ll be interesting to see how Sony approaches these characters now that they’re the ones calling the shots. With Andy Serkis on board to direct the sequel, at least one thing is certain: the motion capture performances are going to be a-maz-ing.
