During CinemaCon 2025, Sony and Marvel finally broke the silence regarding Spider-Man 4 and announced its official title: Brand New Day. A new chapter in the wall-crawler's saga is upon us, and expectations are at an all-time high for the movie to deliver an epic tale filled with thrilling action sequences and a big dose of that good old Parker luck. But while we're all eager to watch the movie... we don't really know what to expect once it finally hits theaters.
If you've followed the string of rumors surrounding Spider-Man: Brand New Day, then you know the whole situation is more convoluted than a Christopher Nolan movie. Reports indicated that Daredevil would appear in the upcoming Spidey project, only for that idea "to be dropped" in favor of a multiversal movie starring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Oh, and we shouldn't forget that Mephisto and Ghost Rider were rumored to appear at some point, along with the likes of The Vulture, Mr Negative, The Scorpion, Spider-Gwen, and countless more. Yeah, it was a bit of a train wreck. But one day, every insider seemed to agree on the same thing: Spider-Man 4 would feature a big team-up with Tom Hardy's Venom.
To add fuel to the fire, Sony Japan teased that the Lethal Protector and Tom Holland's Peter Parker would cross paths in a now-deleted press release. Everything seemed to check out for a moment — especially when taking into account that the post-credits scene of No Way Home hinted that Spidey would bond with a piece of the Venom symbiote. Now, Eddie Brock himself confirmed that the rumored team-up was very close to happening, but it fell apart at the very last minute.
Tom Hardy confirms a Spider-Man and Venom team-up in Brand New Day was canceled
During an interview with The Playlist, Tom Hardy revealed that the Venom and Spider-Man crossover was almost a reality (which feels weird to say given that the two are so closely related in comic book pages). However, those plans won't come to be:
We got close. We got as close as I could possibly imagine getting, apart from doing a film together, which I would have loved to have done because that just means so much fun.
So what was the reason for such a sudden cancelation? Well, it was implied that it all came down to studio politics. While Sony Pictures holds the rights for any big-screen adaptation of Spider-Man or its supporting cast of characters (like Venom), Tom Holland's Peter Parker is currently living in the Marvel Cinematic Universe under the Disney umbrella. The only reason why Spider-Man is able to traverse New York's Skyline alongside other heroes such as Iron Man is because the two studios struck a deal that applies to him, and him alone. But what about Eddie Brock? Well, it appears a different deal almost came into place for him to traverse into the MCU, but it ultimately didn't come to be.
So what does Eddie's absence mean for Spider-Man: Brand New Day? It's not far-fetched to assume that scripts for the movie were already set, and they included Venom in a prominent role. With that in mind, there's a chance that everything regarding his storyline and the symbiote was scratched, but it also seems a bit unlikely given that shooting is just around the corner. So, another possibility is that Eddie Brock won't be in the movie, yet Venom still shows up.
During the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Homecoming, it was revealed that Mac Gargan was ready to hunt Spider-Man down. While we all assumed it was an indication that The Scorpion would eventually make his big screen debut (especially because Mac literally had a scorpion tattoo), maybe he can be the one to bond with the symbiote. After all, he was Venom in comic book pages — a status quo that remained in place for the Brand New Day arc. There's no reason to remove the supervillain from the picture altogether. Perhaps changing its host can be more than enough.
There's also the possibility that there were other versions of the script in case the Disney and Sony deal fell mid-way through. That would also explain the reports about Mister Negative making his live-action debut as the main antagonist in Spider-Man 4. Speaking of which, the character debuted in the first issue of the Brand New Day comic book run, so everything seems to perfectly fall into place. But whatever story ends up taking place, the only guarantee we have right now is that Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock won't be a part of it. It's a shame that three Venom movies can go by, and the Lethal Protector didn't share the screen with Spider-Man once. Hopefully, it doesn't mean a new version of the character can't steal the spotlight from now onwards.
On the bright side, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is just around the corner. With a release date of July 31, 2026, it's just a matter of time before more official news (and even a trailer) come our way, finally revealing who Spidey's next big bad will be.