Tom Hardy's upcoming VENOM movie got off to a bit of a rough start earlier this year, when a seemingly bare-bones trailer left fans of the character feeling rather put out by what they had seen. Shortly thereafter, Sony released a new and extended version complete with special-effects that gave us all our first real look at the classic Spider-Man anti-hero. What we finally got then was a tried-and-true representation of the character, complete with drool, crowded, gnashing fangs, and a shared personality that felt as if it were ripped right off the comic book page. From that moment forward, all was right with the world, at least for the time being.
Today, Entertainment Weekly has given us a pair of First Look images at the film that are bound to please fans of the sinister symbiote even more. In the first pic, we see Hardy's Eddie Brock carrying on a conversation with Riz Ahmed's Dr. Carlton Drake, seemingly trying to talk his way out of a very uncomfortable situation. However, the second pic is the money shot, my friends. All hail Venom in his over-sized, toothy glory! What a glorious shot this one is, right? This is what so many of us have been waiting for. I mean, that moment in the trailer when Venom finally reveals himself was cool enough, but this, this is truly amazing.
You can check both images out for yourself below:
In addition to sharing the above images, EW also sat down with Hardy to discuss some details about his playing one of Marvel's most notorious characters. When asked about what attracted him to the role, Hardy told the outlet that, “As far as Marvel characters, I have to say for me, Venom looks the coolest,” Hardy told EW while laughing. “That sounds a bit shallow! But I appreciate that he has a kind of brazen swagger and a zero foxtrot attitude.”
In VENOM, journalist Eddie Brock begins an investigation into the Life Foundation and its equivocal leader, Dr. Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed). After venturing too deep into the mystery, Eddie is exposed to a swirling, black alien mass known as a symbiote. Once bonded with the creature, Eddie is granted unimaginable powers while sharing his thoughts and actions with a bizarre and violent entity called Venom.
“There’s a tragic clown element, which I find funny and is harmonious with some of the work that I like to do,” Hardy says. “There’s something funny about the circumstances of having a gift but it’s a tragic gift. It’s a superpower you don’t really want, but at the same time, you love it. It makes you feel special. He’s a reluctant hero and an anti-hero.”
When VENOM arrives, the film is expected not to shy away from the anti-heroe's more violent tendencies. In many ways, the film is about Brock's struggle to coexist with the symbiote, in the hope that both the alien's strength and Eddie's journalistic knowhow can be used to put an stop to nefarious organizations and so on.
“Usually a human gets imbued with powers or an alien comes from outer space and has to figure out how to live on our Earth,” Fleischer says. “But this is really about a relationship between two people who have to work together to create this hybrid symbiotic relationship.”
Hardy says that it's Brock's complex relationship with the symbiote that really attracted him to the character, and that he's looking forward to exploring ways with which he can do justice to both personalities on screen. “It’s a bit like Ren and Stimpy, you know?” Hardy says, chuckling to himself. “They have different sounds. I always saw Venom as sounding like a James Brown lounge lizard, and Eddie Brock is kind of…” — he then switches to Brock's muddled American accent — “I don’t know, an everyday kind of guy. But he’s inherited this massive ego, this beast.”
VENOM is directed by Ruben Fleischer (ZOMBIELAND, 20 MINUTES OR LESS) from a script penned by Kelly Marcel and Will Beall. Joining Hardy for the Spidey-spinoff are Michelle Williams, Jenny Slate, Woody Harrelson, and Riz Ahmed. VENOM will open in theaters on October 5th.