Tom Hardy appeared on “The Discourse Podcast” from The Playlist and confirmed that a crossover between Venom and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man “got as close as I could possibly imagine getting” before falling apart.

Ultimately, of course, Hardy’s Venom never did meet Holland’s Spidey. The Discourse Podcast host, Mike DeAngelo, speculated it could have come down to studio politics; without fully conceding, Hardy affirmed carefully to the suggestions, “for all the reasons that you explained ultimately in there.”

Spider-Man archvillain Venom made it into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the mid-credits scenes ending 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home, but that’s as close as Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) ever got to Peter Parker (Tom Holland).