Tom Hardy looks like Tom Hardy in first official Venom image

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Production is well underway on the Marvel Comics adaptation VENOM, Sony's first attempt to make a movie about a Spider-Man character without actually connecting it to a Spider-Man movie, since Spidey himself is all wrapped up in the activities of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The project has been shrouded in secrecy, but now Sony has taken the first real step toward pulling back that shroud by sharing an official image from the production, with IGN getting the first look.

Directed by ZOMBIELAND's Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay by Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner, and Kelly Marcel, VENOM doesn't even have a synopsis available, but Fleischer has said that the film draws inspiration from two comic book storylines – Lethal Protector and Planet of the Symbiotes.

In Lethal Protector, symbiote-coated antihero Venom moves to San Francisco, where he takes on 

five new offspring of the Venom Symbiote: Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher, and Agony. 

In Planet of the Symbiotes, 

Earth is invaded by an army of symbiotes.

Tom Hardy plays Venom's alter ego Eddie Brock and, through a motion-capture performance, Venom himself. Also in the cast are Michelle Williams as Eddie's wife Annie Weying, Riz Ahmed as the symbiote-studying Dr. Carlton Drake, Jenny Slate as "a scientist", Woody Harrelson as "a henchman of sorts", and Reid Scott as a mystery character.

The first official image from VENOM doesn't give us a hint at any of the action the film might contain or even a glimpse of a symbiote, it's simply a shot of Hardy as Brock… In other words, it's Tom Hardy looking like Tom Hardy, holding a notebook. Exciting.

VENOM is scheduled to reach theatres on October 5th.