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That end credits scene in Venom: Let There Be Carnage never went anywhere, did it? After Eddie Brock got multiversed into the MCU, the first thing he saw was Tom Holland's Spider-Man on TV. But for that giant tease, the pair never actually got to share an adventure together. At least, not one that made it to the big screen. 

Yes, as it turns out, a Spider-Man/Venom movie crossover "got close" to happening before falling apart.

The story comes from the man that brought symbiotes to cinema himself, Tom Hardy. Appearing on The Discourse Podcast, product of The Playlist, Hardy got very honest about the crossover that almost was.

"We got close," Hardy told host Mike DeAngelo. "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."

Asked if it was studio politics that ended up axing the Peter Parker/Eddie Brock team-up on screen, Hardy confirmed that, yes, this was the case. "For all the reasons that you explained ultimately in there," he told his interviewer.

For many fans who view the Marvel/Sony relationship in the Spider-Man properties as the reason they've never seen their favorite heroes and villains interact, this news will come as a disappointment if not a surprise. However, one could also look at it this way - if Venom ever were to head into the MCU, at least the conversation regarding that had once started, even if it never went anywhere.

This, combined with the idea the idea that Sony is more focused on telling Spider-Man centric stories, while retaining the film rights to Venom, can at the very least offer a glimmer of hope to those disappointed by today's news. Perhaps the recently announced Spider-Man: Brave New Day will see Tom Hardy and Tom Holland at last take the screen together?

And if not then, maybe in another multiverse.

Marvel's most reliable superhero has proven he can do a whole lot more than just 'whatever a spider can.' Swing into Spidey's history with Popverse's 10 best Spider-Man comic books, our Spider-Man movie watch order, and if you want our opinions on the subject, read our articles ranking Spider-Man's actors and Spider-Man's girlfriends.