It has now finally been confirmed that Tom Hardy has signed on to play the iconic alien-symbiote anti-hero, Eddie Brock a.k.a. Venom, in the character's own solo movie. The upcoming movie is set to start an entirely new Marvel Universe, which is the result of a new deal between Sony and Marvel Studios.
A new shared universe
The brand new "Venom" solo movie will be the first film in the new Marvel Universe created by Sony and will apparently not be related to the upcoming "Spider-Man: Homecoming" movie set to be released on July 7. The director of the second "Spiderman" reboot, John Watts, recently revealed that they are planning to integrate other characters in their separate universe, which will include several heroes such as Black Cat and Silver Sable.
It isn't quite clear just yet how fans will react to having yet another universe that is separate from the existing MCU films, but it should be quite interesting to see how the plan will affect the movies' box office numbers.
Venom is back
The character Eddie Brock had actually appeared in previous "Spiderman" movies. Brock appeared in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3" and was played by actor Topher Grace. However, Brock's background story may be altered in the upcoming new film.
Brock is actually the second human that hosted the sentient alien symbiote. The first one it bonded with was actually Peter Parker, a.k.a. "Spiderman," but the symbiote was rejected by the superhero after he discovered its true nature.
The symbiote then merged with Brock and officially referred to itself -- the combination of Brock and the symbiote -- as "Venom."
A long time coming
Sony has been planning to produce a solo "Venom" movie for quite a while and it was meant to be a spin-off of the "Amazing Spider-Man" series of films. Unfortunately, the project was put on hold when the sequels to "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" were canceled.
Efforts to get the project back on track began earlier this year when Sony officially announced a release date for the upcoming movie. Some changes were, of course, going to be made to the movie's original plans. The upcoming movie will reportedly be a mix of action, sci-fi, and horror, and will have an R rating.
The upcoming "Venom" movie will be directed by Ruben Fleischer and produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Amy Pascal. Production for the movie is scheduled to start this fall. The movie is set to be released in theaters on Oct. 5, 2018.
