Venom: The Last Dance marked the final chapter for Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote that sometimes took control of his body. The 2024 film brought , into the mix, and Venom sacrificed itself to save the world from Knull’s threat, wrapping up the trilogy on a bittersweet note. Sony’s struggling superhero universe—home to flops like Madame Web and Morbius—seemed to fade away with the end of its most successful property, but The Last Dance might not be the definitive end for this corner of the Sonyverse. Its live-action realm is , yet it could find new life by moving into Sony’s animated Spider-Verse.
Most of Sony’s live-action anti-hero projects have been dark and somber, and every one except Venom failed to make a cultural or commercial impact. The animated films tell a very different story, though: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse kept Sony’s multiverse alive with a mix of stunning animation and a heartfelt, ambitious adventure. And while the studio is struggling to conclude that saga with , animation appears to be the best way to keep the entire franchise going. That’s why Venom will soon join Miles Morales and Peter Parker by transitioning to a new medium.
Venom is officially from Sony, with the studio selecting Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein—directors of Final Destination: Bloodlines—to helm the film. The original Venom’s creative team, including producers Amy Pascal and Avi Arad, screenwriter and director Kelly Marcel, and star Tom Hardy, are all on board as producers.
While Marcel wrote all three Venom films and directed The Last Dance, she won’t pen the animated film’s screenplay. Instead, Sony’s animation division is opening a writers’ room to help develop the script. This is an interesting approach, but hopefully it will pay off: the Spider-Verse is brimming with potential, and animation has long been the best way to tap into it.
Sony’s stubborn focus on building its live-action universe without core heroes—choosing instead to turn clear-cut villains into empathetic anti-heroes—was always the saga’s most confusing risk. But bringing Venom into the animated Spider-Verse could be Sony’s way of fixing . The Spider-Verse might finally feel like the interconnected world it should have been from the start, and if Venom’s animated venture goes well, we could see more Spidey villains join the fray.