'Venom' Director Wants Spider-Man Showdown in Next Movie

With a week away before the premiere of Venom, the cast and crew are starting to open up about the very first Spider-Man spinoff movie.

And though there were rumors of the Web Slinger possibly appearing in some sort of a cameo, the character does not show up at all in Venom nor is he hinted at. But that doesn't mean there aren't plans for the future.

When asked if there were certain Marvel characters he wanted to use but couldn't get the rights to, Venom director Ruben Fleischer was quick to point out the obvious red-and-blue absence.

"I think there's a pretty obvious one inherent to the Venom franchise that for whatever reason couldn't be included in the film but I will say that I look forward to future movies where said character could perhaps run across Venom. Nothing would be more exciting to see than a face off with Spider-Man," Fleischer told ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis.

Given that Sony's Marvel characters exist separately from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that Spider-Man is currently on loan to Marvel Studios, we followed up by asking if Fleischer would use a different actor as Spider-Man or if they'd include Tom Holland's version of the character.

"I will say I think Tom Holland is a fantastic Spider-Man. I really loved Homecoming, I'm really excited for [Spider-Man: Far From Home]," said Fleischer. "I'm friends with Jon Watts and I've met Tom Holland and I know that he and [Venom star Tom] Hardy are excited to go toe to toe so that would be a version I personally would be very excited about."

Once the rumor of Holland cameoing in Venom was debunked, a new report cropped up that indicated Venom was going to be rated PG-13 due to Sony's intention to possibly include Spider-Man in a future film.

Those reports were slightly backed up by Venom producer Avi Arad, who said the movie was never going to be rated R, despite fans' wishes.

"To me, R is not a consideration," Arad said. "Can you get away with not R so that other people can see? So that younger people can see? I made an animated show. There was a lot of Venom in there. It was in '94. There's no reason to put in violence. To define what Venom is as violence. He's not. He's the lethal protector, which is a very different thing. We want to be really true to the comics. Today, in CGI and stuff, we can make Venom bite your head. But we don't have to show the head going side to side like, 'that actually tastes good.' It's irrelevant. What's relevant is that you finally understood, is that a bad guy? Yeah."

Fans can see the Spider-man-less Venom when the movie premieres in theaters on October 5th.