Spider-Man: No Way Home’s chaotic finale almost featured Tom Hardy’s Venom.
Spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: No Way Home and Venom: Let There be Carnage.
If there’s one thing Spider-Man: No Way Home succeeded in, it was strategically handling a variety of callbacks and cameos from various films, including the recent Venom sequel. One of the biggest fears going into the film was how it could potentially feel overstuffed, which luckily wasn’t the case, thanks to writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers who tactfully found a fine line between nostalgia and progressing Peter Parker’s story.
Writing such a dense and callback heavily film that’s interwoven with multiple universes is no small task. While the final product was one of the most ambitious undertakings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and managed to provide closure to Venom: Let There Be Carnage’s post-credits sequence, Chris McKenna revealed to Variety that the first draft of the film was filled to the brim with even more ideas.
“Let’s write the script that is the kitchen sink and we’ll just act like we were going to get everything we wish for. And like Peter’s wish, it became a nightmare, and it required very, very talented people to help us not die at the end.”
A number of key players like Tobey Maguire’s Mary Jane Watson and Andrew Garfield’s Emma Stone didn’t appear in the Spidey threequel despite rumors suggesting otherwise. While McKenna failed to divulge if any of these characters appeared in previous drafts, it was made clear that the writers went down several different potential paths.
“We went down different roads with different characters that just didn’t fit. We can’t get into the details of that because it might be the kind of thing where they’ll find a way to explore those ideas. So I’d hate to spoil anything, because I think we had a lot of fun.”
The writing duo confirmed that one of the potential paths involved Tom Hardy’s Venom popping up in the film’s finale. Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s post-credits sequence saw the Tom Hardy-led character popping up in the MCU through multiversal shenanigans. While Tom Hardy reprised his role as Venom in No Way Home‘s post-credits sequence, he failed to appear in the battle, thus making his appearance mostly inconsequential.
As for how Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock/Venom was pulled into the MCU despite not having knowledge of Spider-Man or Peter Parker’s identity? McKenna revealed that the hive mind theory of symbiote has some solid validity.
“The idea is that the symbiote has knowledge of other universes. Buried in his brain is some knowledge of that connection.”
It will be interesting to see just how Tom Hardy’s Venom threequel goes and if the multiverse will directly be addressed. Fans have been clamoring to see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Tom Hardy’s Venom go head to head, so perhaps that will be the basis for the future film.
Here is the synopsis for Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man No Way Home:
“For the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero’s identity is revealed, bringing his Super Hero responsibilities into conflict with his normal life and putting those he cares about most at risk. When he enlists Doctor Strange’s help to restore his secret, the spell tears a hole in their world, releasing the most powerful villains who’ve ever fought a Spider-Man in any universe. Now, Peter will have to overcome his greatest challenge yet, which will not only forever alter his own future but the future of the Multiverse.”
Directed by Jon Watts from a script written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, Marvel’s No Way Home stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Martin Starr, J.B. Smoove, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Benedict Wong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Foxx, with Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire, and Tom Hardy.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters. Stay tuned for all the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the future of Tom Hardy’s Venom, and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: Variety
