Your boy Tom Hardy will bring his rough-hewn British charm and general air of seductive menace to another beloved superhero franchise when he stars in Venom, Sony‘s upcoming spin-off from the popular Spider-Man films.
Sony made the announcement this morning via Twitter, posting a picture of Hardy looking like a hard nut and announcing a release date of October 5, 2018 for the upcoming flick:
Tom Hardy is Eddie Brock in #Venom, the upcoming film from Sony’s Marvel Universe releasing October 5, 2018 – production starts this fall. pic.twitter.com/OZQqDEvoum
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) May 19, 2017
Venom made an appearance on film in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man 3, where he was played by Topher Grace of That ’70s Show, and he has been a fixture in Marvel comics alongside characters like Iron Man and Deadpool.
Sony, who own the rights to Spider-Man, recently made a deal with Disney for him to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first of these crossover films, Spider-Man: Homecoming is due for release later this year.
Because they are no longer in a position to make stand-alone Spider-Man films, Sony are instead trying to build their own cinematic universe around iconic villains from the series. Venom will be the first of these.
It remains to be seen whether fans will flock to a Spider-Man-themed movie that does not actually feature the iconic web-slinger himself, but Sony will probably throw a lot of money at this one to make sure it’s a success.
Ruben Fleischer of Zombieland and 30 Minutes Or Less is set to direct. Fleische’s more recent work includes two episodes of the Netflix comedy series Santa Clarita Diet, staring Drew Barrymore.
Tom Hardy is no stranger to comic book films, having portrayed the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.
Source: Variety.
Photo: Jason LaVeris / Getty.
