Tom Holland admits there was a plan to merge his Spider-Man with Sony's Spider-Man Universe

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Venom with Spider-Man? A universe merge was "on the cards"

Jared Leto in Morbius
(Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)

Marvel star Tom Holland says Sony wanted to merge its not-so-spectacular Spider-Man universe with the MCU's Spider-Man – but there were never any internal battles about his on-screen appearances.

"[Sony CEO Tom Rothman] is a really smart guy. He was building this universe and they had this plan to merge the worlds at some point," Holland recalled on Happy Sad Confused. "They just never found the right time to do so."

Despite persistent rumors of Holland's Spidey appearing in a Tom Hardy Venom movie (and a bizarre symbiote tease in the No Way Home post-credits scene), there was no politicking about which cinematic universe the wallcrawler would appear in next.

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"I think it was on the cards. There were never any battles of 'We want you to be in this movie and I don't want to,'" Holland said. "That never happened."

Holland added, "Like lots of things in the creative world, it just never came to fruition. We were feeling great confidence in my franchise with [director Jon Watts] and the Marvel guys in the MCU. Tom and the guys at Sony just wanted us to continue on our path."

Sony's Spider-Man Universe – previously anchored with the truly terrible Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (SPUMC) moniker – consisted of multiple spin-offs featuring Spider-Man-adjacent characters.

That included a trilogy of Venom movies, a Kraven the Hunter spin-off, Morbius, and Madame Web, the Dakota Johnson-starring film that was roundly panned upon release.

Spider-Man's MCU series, meanwhile, has fared much better. The franchise, consisting of four movies, is about to gross a combined $4 billion at the box office thanks to an expected historic opening weekend for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. It seems, then, that the likes of Morbius are in the rear-view mirror – at least where Tom Holland's webhead is concerned.

For more, check out our verdict on Spidey's latest with the Spider-Man: Brand New Day review.

Then dive into spoiler territory with our breakdown of the Spider-Man: Brand New Day ending and Spider-Man: Brand New Day post-credits scene.

Bradley Russell
Bradley Russell
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.

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