Venom director Ruben Fleischer says franchise will 'lead' to Spider-Man crossover

Though they seem to be playing roles in two different stories on the big screen right now, Venom and Spider-Man are inextricably linked in the minds of comic book fans. That meant that from the moment Venom began its march to the big screen, fans were wondering if a crossover between Tom Hardy's version of that character and Tom Holland's version of Spider-Man could ever meet in live action. Now Venom director Ruben Fleischer is here to give us some hope for a crossover.

Fleischer has handed over the reins of the Venom franchise to Andy Serkis for the upcoming sequel, which will see the title character facing off against Carnage (Woody Harrelson) in what is, so far, his own little pocket superhero universe at Sony Pictures. For a little while over the summer, that universe seemed poised to expand to include an appearance from Holland's Spider-Man after negotiations between Sony and Disney to keep Spidey in the MCU seemed to fall apart. That divide has since been bridged, keeping Spidey in the MCU for at least two more films (one solo film and one other in-universe appearance), but Sony still has the film rights to both Spider-Man and Venom, which means that as long as these films are profitable some form of crossover seems inevitable.

Speaking to Fandom while promoting Zombieland: Double Tap, Fleischer confirmed that some form of Spidey/Venom collision has always been in the cards.

“That’s where it’s all going to lead,” Fleischer said. “And that’s the exciting thing, because we changed the origin of Venom … in the comics, he evolved from Spider-Man, but because of the Marvel-Sony thing we weren’t able to that. And so the thing I think it’s building towards, and will be exciting to see, is when they actually do confront each other.”

While it's important to note that Fleischer is no longer overseeing the future of Venom on the big screen, this is still exciting news. Fleishcer said back when he was promoting Venom that he felt like the crossover was "inevitable," and it certainly still feels that way. What we haven't seen yet, though, is the path by which it will happen, thanks in no small part to Spider-Man's continued (and highly profitable) adventures over at Disney.

Meanwhile, Sony's continuing to expand its own little superhero universe in ways that don't include Holland's Spider-Man. The success of Into the Spider-Verse has spawned more animated efforts, and the live-action success of Venom will soon give way to a Morbius film, starring Jared Leto as the titular living vampire. Even if Holland doesn't join Venom anytime soon, he'll have no shortage of friends and foes to contend with, but Fleischer clearly sees hope for a crossover, and a lot of fans are hoping he's right.