Both Topher Grace and Tom Hardy Poison are the same character in Marvel lore, but understanding exactly how means understanding the truth of the symbiote in modern Marvel comics.
The two actors brought Venom to life in separate films, considered separate universes. But as was revealed and explained in the pages of Poison #18the famous Venom symbiote is described as a truly multiversal being, with tendrils of its existence spread across time, reality, and incarnations throughout the Marvel Multiverse. And it all has to do with the role and purpose of the King in Black – and we’re not referring to Knull, the Symbiote God, either.
Venom’s True Nature Is Bigger Than a Universe (Movie)
Eddie Brock revealed the multiversal and unique nature of his symbiote
Depictions of Venom, first by Topher Grace in 2007 Spider-Man 3so Tom Hardy’s trilogy starting in 2018, are significantly different. But in Poison #18, by Al Ewing, Cafu and Frank D’Armata, Eddie Brock comes face to face with The Eventuality, the definitive form of Venom. Eddie struggles to understand what he’s seeing and hearing, leading The Eventuality to reveal the true story of the Kings in Black and how Knull, the previous King, didn’t quite fit in.
The Eventuality goes on to explain that Knull thought very linearly and simply chose to destroy everything in his path, but says “the real King in Black’s timeline for this reality is… more complicated.”
He reveals to Eddie that, as the King in Black, he “it will travel back and forth, back and forth, restless, rootless in forgotten pasts and possible futures. The artwork accompanying this reveal depicts a mind-bending sequence, showcasing the various iterations of Venom across the Multiverse. Some sporting Wolverine-style claws and even a Venom/Captain America hybrid (complete with Venomized shield). The implication is clear: there is a Venom, a King in Black, existing in all forms and times as a single entityexpressed in various ways throughout the Multiverse.
Although each poison is unique, they are one being, through time
The lore linking the two film versions of Venom makes a ‘No Way Home’ reunion possible
This revelation, that Venom is a truly multiversal being, existing in multiple realities, allows Topher Grace and Tom Hardy’s interpretations to be valid. It has been established that the MCU exists in the larger Marvel Multiverse as Earth-19999, and Spider-Man: No Way Home revealed Sam Raimi Spider-Man films still exist within the MCU, thus also linking this trilogy to the Marvel multiverse. Now, fans can take solace in the fact that the two portraits are just various aspects of the larger, multiversal Venom known as The Eventuality.
This revelation not only canonizes Topher Grace and Tom Hardy’s Venoms, but also shows the reader how powerful he really is. As far as character arcs go, Venom had one of the best in comics, going from a revenge-driven villain to a cosmic god. But its form as The Eventuality is the most valuable to cinephiles, as the tradition that links Hardy and Grace’s performances as Poison each other across the vast expanse of the Marvel Multiverse.