Does Venom 3 Lay The Groundwork For Tom Holland's Spider-Man 4?

Spoilers for "Venom: The Last Dance" follow.

Every time a new "Venom" movie arrives, poor Tom Hardy has to answer the same question over and over again: will his Eddie Brock/Venom ever meet Tom Holland's Spider-Man? To be fair, it's not an outlandish question — Venom is, after all, traditionally a Spider-Man villain. However, due to confusing rights issues, Holland's Spidey and Hardy's Venom have never crossed paths. Sony owns the rights to all-things-Spider-Man, and they've licensed everyone's favorite web-slinger to Disney's MCU while making a bunch of (not very good) movies about supporting characters who appeared in the pages of Spider-Man comics (the "Venom" movies, "Morbius," and of course, "Madame Web," with "Kraven The Hunter" due out in December).

Hardy's apparently final go-around as Eddie Brock/Venom arrives in theaters this week in the form of "Venom: The Last Dance" (read our review here). And once again, intrepid journalists are asking Hardy if he's ever going to meet up with Spider-Man. Hardy, being a good sport, has done his best to not shoot down the idea. "I would love to fight Spider-Man. I would love to fight him now. I'm happy to fight Spider-Man today, 100 percent. I would never say never," Hardy said at New York Comic-Con (via Variety), before adding: "We were specifically set up to bring Venom to a movie format, and that's what we've done. 'The Last Dance' is the final piece in that trilogy and we're really excited about that. " At the same time, Hardy isn't afraid of being honest. When asked on the red carpet if he might show up as Venom in the upcoming "Spider-Man 4," which apparently starts shooting next summer, the actor humorously replied: "I don't see him in the next Spider-Man movie because I'd have the script, and I don't have that." 

Okay, so Venom isn't in "Spider-Man 4," at least according to Hardy. But is Spidey in "Venom: The Last Dance"? Surely, this new and final "Venom" trilogy film would set up something involving the wall-crawler ... right?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Spider-Man does not show up in "Venom 3." In fact, he's not even mentioned. To be fair, Hardy's Venom and Holland's Spidey don't even exist in the same universe. The ending of the sequel "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" did transport Eddie Brock into the MCU, but a post-credit scene in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and the opening scene of "Venom: The Last Dance" show us that this dip into the multiverse didn't last very long. Eddie is quickly transported back into his own universe and spends the rest of the movie there. Of course, this raises all sorts of confusing questions. While the MCU Spider-Man exists in another universe, Sony's Spider-Man Universe, which Venom occupies, did hint at the presence of a version of Spidey in "Madame Web," where we met Ben Parker (Adam Scott), who is traditionally Spider-Man's uncle. We also meet Ben's sister, Mary (Emma Roberts), who is pregnant with a baby that is presumably Peter Parker, who will grow up to be Spider-Man. 

So, sure, a version of Spider-Man could exist in Venom's universe, I guess? "Madame Web" is set in 2003, and the first "Venom" is (presumably) set in the year it came out, 2018. In "Venom: The Last Dance," we're told that only a year has passed since the first film, which means the new movie is likely set in 2019. That would imply that if the Mary Parker we met in "Madame Web" gave birth to Peter Parker, he would be about 16 at the time of "Venom: The Last Dance," which would work — Spidey is supposed to be a teenager, after all.

But none of this speculating really matters, because as I said, Peter Parker and Spider-Man do not appear in "Venom: The Last Dance." Nor is Spidey even referenced. Sure, by the time the movie ends, Eddie Brock is living in New York City, the swinging grounds of Spider-Man. But Eddie is also no longer attached to Venom at this point. In fact, Venom is supposed to be dead (although a post-credit scene suggests otherwise; more on that in a moment). But perhaps the Spider-Man who lives in Sony's Spider-Man Universe isn't operational yet. Perhaps their version of Peter Parker has yet to be bit by a radioactive spider. Or perhaps Spider-Man was never, ever going to meet Tom Hardy's Venom. 

Okay, so Spider-Man doesn't show up in "Venom 3." That much is clear. But what about the post-credits scenes? Surely they must set-up "Spider-Man 4" in some way ... right? Nope! There are two post-credit scenes in "Venom: The Last Dance," and both of them are underwhelming and have nothing to do with Spider-Man. The first post-credits scene is all about Knull, the film's big bad who ... spends the entire movie sitting in a chair with his hair hanging down in his face. It's clear that Sony wants Knull to be their own version of Thanos, but the character makes absolutely no real impact here. However, he gets a big post-credits moment where he more or less says "I'll be back, baby!" Sure! Whatever you say, Knull! Is it possible that Knull will end up being the main villain of "Spider-Man 4"? I guess! Why not? Anything is possible! But it seems unlikely. Remember: the current version of Spider-Man is still firmly set in the MCU, and Knull is a character from Sony's Spider-Man Universe. He has nothing to do with the MCU. Why would they use him? 

The Knull scene occurs midway through the credits. But what about the second post-credits scene — the one that happens at the very end of the movie? I'll confess that I'm not a big post-credits scene guy. I actually usually leave the theater before they happen, because I don't find them very interesting. However, there have been rumblings that "Venom 3" would have something to do with setting up "Spider-Man 4," so I assumed that if that was going to happen, it would happen in the final post-credits scene. But it doesn't. This final scene brings back a bartender character played by "Ted Lasso" actor Cristo Fernández — a character who also appeared in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." At the beginning of "Venom 3," the military abducts this unlucky bartender because he happened to witness Eddie Brock going into Venom mode. Eddie also left a tiny sliver of Venom-goo on a quarter he left at the bar, and the military took that, too. 

In the final post-credit scene, we see the bartender wander out of the secret military base known as Area 55, which is located beneath the famous Area 51. Area 51 was destroyed during the big climax of "Venom 3," and the bartender staggers through the wreckage, confused and afraid. While this is happening, we see a cockroach approach a broken vial that contains some symbiote gunk. The implication is that this is the tiny bit of Venom-goo we saw at the start of the film. The goo will likely take hold of the roach, and bring Venom back from the dead. Sure. Fine. But none of this has anything to do with Spider-Man. It's clear that I wasn't the only one expecting some sort of Spidey set-up here, because after this scene happened, the audience at my screening (who all sat dutifully waiting for this final post-credits scene) groaned in disappointment. "That's it?!" I heard someone exclaim. Yep. That's it. 

"Venom: The Last Dance" is now playing in theaters.