Tom Hardy almost played an iconic MCU hero instead of Venom

Warning: spoilers to follow for Venom: The Last Dance

The Venom trilogy might not be the most polished superhero saga ever made, but there's a lot of enjoyment to be found in it. Its goofy comedy and exhilarating action sequences give it a personality of its own - something that cannot be said for other movies. That's why it may be a bit sad to know Eddie Brock's journey **seemingly** came to an end.

Even if the symbiote story is far from over and Flash Thomson will likely enter the scene as Agent Venom, it won't be the same without Tom Hardy. He was perfect for the part of Eddie Brock, and his acting skills led us to believe he truly shared a special bond with a CGI alien. But as hard as it might be to believe, there's a reality where he never took on the role to begin with. Instead, we were very close to seeing him as an iconic Marvel Cinematic Universe hero.

Tom Hardy was almost cast as Doctor Strange

As reported by Deadline, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy were being eyed for the role of Stephen Strange, amongst other candidates. The latter was no stranger (pun intended) to working on superhero franchises at the time. He played the part of Bane in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises and instantly became a fan favorite. Even if his character was different from its comic book counterpart, Hardy and Nolan managed to give it a unique twist that worked in their hyperrealistic version of Gotham City.

Due to this previous experience, it was reported Tom Hardy was closer to getting the role of Doctor Strange. It might be hard to imagine him as the soon-to-be Sorcerer Supreme since we've been watching Benedict cast spells and suit up with a red cloak on the big screen for eight years now. And while he definitely proved to be the right choice, it's not wild to assume Hardy could've also played the part of a cocky and self-entitled surgeon.

At the end of the day, it simply wasn't meant to be. Marvel has been praised for its on-point casting, and it shows. Benedict Cumberbatch was the ideal man for the job and, in turn, Tom Hardy got to entertain us with a whacky Venom franchise. Now the only question in everyone's minds is whether his journey as Eddie Brock is truly over or not.

Rumor has it Venom will make a comeback in Spider-Man 4, teaming up with the wall-crawler and fighting against Knull. Besides, it's important to remember that even if the Venom symbiote died in Sony's Spider-Man universe, its offspring is still alive and well in the MCU as showcased in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home. With that in mind, it isn't too crazy to think Eddie could reunite with the symbiote after the multiverse breaks loose during Avengers: Doomsday. If that really ends up happening, then chances are Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch would meet on the big screen as their respective characters - which would be crazy considering how different everything could've turned out to be.

Would you have liked to see Tom Hardy as the Master of the Mystic Arts? Let us know on our social media pages! And stick around with Whatever A Spider Can for everything Spider-Man-related.