Tom Hardy's deleted picture on Instagram fuels rumors about Venom in MCU's Spider-Man: No Way Home

On September 17, Twitter user Marvel Updates posted a snap of Venom star Tom Hardy wearing a hat with Spider-Man: No Way Home graphics. The original snap was posted by stunt coordinator Lin Oeding, who has since deleted the picture.

As of yet, Lin's connection to neither Venom: Let There Be Carnage nor Spider-Man: No Way Home has been confirmed. However, he was likely to be a mere visitor on set, posing for a picture with Tom Hardy.

While Tom wearing the hat does not confirm his appearance in the movie, legions of fans are excited after seeing the photo. Usually, Marvel sends out a few merchandise to the cast and crew of the movies.

The merch usually comes with its own embargo for not being worn in public until the film's release to avoid speculations like these. However, Kurt Yue mentioned in his YouTube video about appearing in Black Widow that he had received his merch months before the film's release.

This makes it plausible for Hardy to have been wearing a cap meant for him, as Spider-Man: No Way Home is months away from its release on December 17.

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Is Venom: Let There Be Carnage in the MCU?

In a May 2021 interview with IGN, Venom 2 director Andy Serkis subtly hinted that the movie is not set in the MCU. Serkis said:

"Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man and the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story. We’re treating this very much as it’s his own world. The Venom story is his own world."

He further added:

"They are unaware, at this point, of other characters like Spider-Man."

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Morbius connection and multiverse

However, the official trailer for Sony X Marvel's Morbius showcased Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes in a shot with Jared Leto's Michael Morbius. At the time, several fans assumed that this hinted at Sony's Venom and Morbius being in the MCU.

But with the release of multiversal projects like Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, it is plausible that the Venomverse is a parallel universe. The idea of parallel universes with infinite alternate realities is already being established in Marvel's What If…? series.

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Sony's Spider-Verse

Furthermore, it can also be theorized that Venom (Eddie Brock) might have a cameo role in NWH. Venomverse will be confirmed if Venom 2 gives no reference to Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame's blip.

This theory also leaves room for both Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Tom Hardy's Venom to appear in future Sony movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 (slated to be released in 2022) and Venom 3.

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How could Venom show up in the MCU?

As explored before, with the multiverse being established in MCU, it is possible for all Marvel projects to be theoretically canon to the MCU multiverse. Venom could be set in an alternate universe yet still show up in movies like NWH, or Tom Holland's Spider-Man could travel to Venomverse.

This was hinted at by Venom (2018) director Ruben Fleischer in an interview with Fandom in 2019. He said:

"...in the comics, he [Venom] evolved from Spider-Man but because of the Marvel-Sony thing we weren't able to do that. And so the thing I think it's building towards, and will be exciting to see, is when they actually do confront each other."

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Madame Web

Sony's 2018 Oscar-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse introduced the idea of alternate universes with multiversal travel.

In the movie's post-credit scene, a hologram of a lady who is presumably Madame Web (Cassandra Webb) was seen guiding Miguel O'Hara (aka Spider-Man 2099) for multiversal travel.

This makes it plausible that Tom Hardy's Venom could travel to MCU with the help of Madame Web, or Tom Holland's Spider-Man could also travel to the Venomverse. Furthermore, this leaves the possibility of Hardy and Holland having potential roles in the upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel.