Did Tom Holland Spoil Tom Hardy's Venom Appearing In 'Secret Wars'?

Tom Holland does have a tendency for spoiling things that are meant to be kept under wraps by Marvel. He looked like he was doing so well during the press tour for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but then he may have just slipped up in a big, BIG way.

The Fumble

It was during the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz that Holland talked all things Spider-Man. His history with the character. The journey of bringing Brand New Day together, and then they touched on the future of the franchise.

Horowitz mentioned how it was a shame that Holland's Peter Parker never had chance to share the screen with Tom Hardy's Venom and/or Eddie Brock. The interviewer then asked if there was chance that they could still potentially pair up in some way in the future. It was in this section of the interview that Horowitz noted something. The actor was avoiding eye contact - something they joked about earlier in the interview. The flustered actor was quick to shrug the conversation off by saying "you'll have to wait and see".

Last time I checked, that's no denial from our Peter Parker. Interesting. He's not refusing it, and he didn't seem sure of how to deal with Horowitz pushing that particular question. Earlier in the interview he was happy to allude to Miles Morales' live-action debut at some point in the future. He could have just said that the potential for Venom and Tom Hardy to show up in the future is either slim or very possible. Instead he got pretty clammy in the palms!

This was followed up with the next people Horowitz interviewed in this particular episode of the podcast - Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal. Again, when the mention of Tom Hardy and Venom was brought up, they were acting very coy. More coy than usual.

So, what does this mean? Well, I have a theory. And it's one I am going to keep a tight hold on.

The Theory

We all know what is scheduled to hit cinemas in December 2027; Avengers: Secret Wars. An adaptation of the 1985 and 2015 comics of the same name. More so the former.

Secret Wars is a classic comic book storyline that saw Dr Doom bringing heroes and villains to a place called Battleworld, but the ultimate all-out war. This cinematic version is set to go further than the original material. It will see heroes from across the multiverse to join forces a fight. That means we could potentially see the likes of Pedro Pascal's Mr Fantastic, Nicholas Cage's Ghost Rider, and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine all sharing the screen for the first time in history.

Now, what is Spider-Man's part in Secret Wars? Well, the 1985 comic book had the webslinger as one of the heroes involved, and also saw him interact with the symbiote (aka Venom!) for the first time ever.

So, where am I going with this? Well, note what I said earlier. Battleworld heroes and villains arriving to go to war. Heroes and villains. Heroes and villains. Heroes from across the multiverse, and villains from across the multiverse.

Yeah, you can see where I'm going with this, and why Holland got nervous, and why Feige and Pascal got quiet.

What if on the side of the villains, Tom Hardy and Venom are dragged in together to side with Doom. There's no clear idea on what their story would look like i.e. their actual allegiance, what their aim would be etc. But what if their presence on Battleworld is what brings Holland into contact with the symbiote and has him wearing the black suit for his next solo outing?

We did have Venom taking a liking to Holland's Spider-Man in the post-credit scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. So it would stand to reason that should they share the screen, Venom would try his hardest to get himself wrapped around Spidey.

This would all make a lot of sense based off Holland, Pascal and Feige. It delivers on honouring the the Secret Wars comic book. It pays off nods to Spider-Man and Venom finally meeting in the MCU. It also sets course for a very interesting storyline for Holland's Spider-Man that would keep his MCU journey fresh.

What do you think? Do you think this is where Avengers: Secret Wars is headed? Let me know in the comment section!