It’s a small world, after all. But with the whole Multiverse of Madness concept expanding the definition of that small world, the superhero genre defies that simplicity. Two days ago, Venom 3 star Tom Hardy shared a BTS snap from the set of his upcoming film, once again triggering fans of the Spider-Man lore. Despite the Marvel Comics character’s rights spread across the multiverse of cinematic platforms – Disney, Sony and now even Amazon Prime Video – this new photo has rung back a connection with Tom Holland‘s universe, aka the MCU.

Venom 3 and Spider-Man connection:

Tom Hardy’s new Instagram post catches him sporting a familiar outfit he’s donned on multiple occasions now, especially while jumping through these universes. He’s wearing the same Golden State Warriors t-shirt and palm tree shirt combo, which he was first spotted in for the Venom: Let There Be Carnage post-credits scene. Eddie was then caught in the casual get-up as he lay on a bed watching TV when Venom piqued him into the symbiote world. 

As they seemingly got transported elsewhere, the TV switches its narrative to Spider-Man‘s (Tom Holland) face plastered everywhere. (Though it remains unclear how they got transported to the other world – Could this hint at the multiverse mess-up caused in Loki Season 2?) This followed Mysterio’s shocking revelation of outing Peter’s super-identity to the world in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). It was the first look at Hardy’s Eddie/Venom settling into the MCU.

Also read: Spider-Man 4 with Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi? Franchise star hints possibility

After Venom 2, we again caught Eddie and the Venom symbiote hiding in MCU’s Mexico in Spider-Man: No Way Home’s post-credit scene. This scene carried forward what happened to the savagely bromantic duo in Venom’s second outing. Dowing one too many drinks, Eddie tries to grasp how many superhumans exist in this universe. He’s eventually dragged back to his home universe in the blink of an eye. However, a gooey remnant of the Venom symbiote gets left behind, suggesting the ongoing active contribution to somehow fusing the Sony-Marvel Spider-Man universe.

With Hardy spotted wearing the same outfit for the third time in a row, Venom 3 likely picks up right after the Spider-Man: No Way Home scene.

Although Venom 3 plot details are shrouded under clouds of mystery, Sony made an inexplicable twisted slip. In 2023, Sony expanded the horizon of these timeline-fusing speculations by posting a video featuring the coming together of two Venom renditions. It starred Tom Hardy and Topher Grace facing off each other in a mash-up of clips from each of their movies.

The platform quickly took it down, but the deed was already done. It’s still on the internet and has heated conversations around the supposed Venom crossover. Whether it was a mere marketing strategy remains unclear. If it was, it seems to have achieved its purpose in driving fans crazy ahead of the Venom 3 premiere, now slated for November 8, 2024.