Andy Serkis has said he hopes Spider-Man and Venom “might come across each other one day” as he addressed the prospect of a Marvel crossover.
The Lord Of The Rings actor, who has directed the film sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage, said he believes “everyone” wants to see the two comic book characters in the same film.
Fans have long speculated about the potential for a crossover and Venom star Tom Hardy, who worked on the story for the film sequel, has previously said he would be “remiss” if he was not “trying to steer any kind of connectivity”.
Asked if a crossover was something he would like to see, Serkis told the PA news agency: “Well, I think everyone wants that.
“I mean, who knows what will happen? We hope that one day they might come across each other, I guess…”
Serkis is best known for his pioneering use of motion capture and CGI as Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings and as Caesar in the Planet Of The Apes films, as well as playing Snoke in Star Wars.
His previous directing credits include Breathe, starring Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, and Jungle Book re-telling Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle. While he previously had a role in Marvel film Black Panther, he said he did not have his eye on directing a superhero blockbuster until he got a call from Hardy.
He said: ““I was working on something else, I was developing something to shoot, and out of the blue came this call from Tom and he just said, ‘Andy, I want to throw your hat in the ring to direct Venom.
“I was like, ‘OK!’ It wasn’t something that I was seeking out originally, but then we started to talk and obviously I loved his performance in the original one, so very rapidly it became something, and I’m so glad he did because we had a ball making it.
“I’ve always wanted to work with Tom and we’d talked around other projects, as director and actor and also acting together, so it was really wonderful to finally get to work together.”
The film is a sequel to the 2018 blockbuster Venom, helmed by Ruben Fleischer, and sees Hardy reprise his role as journalist Eddie Brock, who is still living with the symbiote Venom inside him.
After Brock attempts to reignite his career by interviewing the serial killer Cletus Kasady (played by Woody Harrelson), the convicted killer becomes the host of the symbiote Carnage, who lends his name to the title of the sequel.
Serkis said entering a pre-existing world posed a new set of challenges, adding: “I’ve never done anything like that before.
“So it was a challenge at first but, the way it was written and the way the story was crafted, and where it sat in terms of the evolution of the relationship with Eddie and Venom, and also the introduction of such a main new character Carnage, allowed for a lot of exploration as if it were almost a film in its own right.
“I was standing on the shoulders of Ruben Fleischer’s great first movie and Tom’s performance particularly, and so there was wonderful material to work with.”
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is released in UK cinemas on October 15.