Venom is one of the most formidable villains of Spiderman comics. He is basically a darker version of Spiderman. He has all of his powers but he uses them to achieve sinister ends. The character of Venom previously was botched in Spiderman 3 directed by Sam Raimi, who subsequently confessed that he was forced to put Venom there by the studio.
Sony is giving a serious shot at reviving the character and this time they have brought Tom Hardy to play the lead role. He is very adept at playing superhero roles as he was Bane in Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. He is famous for undergoing major physical transformations and this will come in handy as he is literally playing 8 ft tall monster.
The movie is an origin story adapting the ‘Lethal Protector storyline’ from 1990’s Marvel comics. Tom Hardy is Eddie Brock, a journalist who becomes a hero in San Francisco. Here’s what you should know:
“Before the story begins, Venom makes an agreement with Spider-Man that they will leave each other alone, on the condition that Venom commits no crimes. Venom then moves from New York City to San Francisco and takes up with a group of Californian mole people. Shortly thereafter the father of one of Venom’s victims seeks him out with a group of super-powered mercenaries to take revenge. Spider-Man, seeing misleading coverage of Venom on television, heads to San Francisco to confront him and instead winds up fighting alongside Venom against five new offspring of the Venom Symbiote: Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher, and Agony.”
According to sources, Sony has signed up Tom Hardy for three Venom movies till now, a contract may go up to 5-7 films as well depending on the Box office performance of upcoming Venom movie. It makes perfect sense for Sony to strike a deal with Tom who has got the right age and physicality going for him. This will go a long way to build ‘Venomverse’. Here’s what Hardy said:
“I’m open to whatever you want to do with it. We’ve signed up for three of them. So it’s very much an open case. We’ll see what people’s responses are to it. I think it’s an awesome character. I love playing both of them. It’s an amuse-bouche, and for Sony, it’s the Venom-verse launched in isolation, as it were. We all prepped for it to be a standalone universe. So whatever Sony want to attach to it at a later date, it’s a fulcrum piece. But let’s see what happens when it lands”.
The actor Riz Ahmed was also cast to play an important role, he is the founder of Life foundation ‘Dr. Carlton Drake’ who is credited with discovering symbiotes at the first place. Here’s what Riz said:
“No one thinks that they are the bad guy, that’s the reality. People do crazy things, terrible things, but in their mind they justify it. They think that they’re helping the world, helping the other person, helping themselves, they justify it in their own ways. So, for me, when I’m playing a character like Carlton Drake, I’m sure you’ll think I’m crazy but I totally understand what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. He’s trying to serve humanity and he just thinks that he’s best placed to do that and he wants to find a future for the human race. And of course, as the most rich, powerful, successful, intelligent member of the human race, he should be at the center of that future as well. So, I think I’m playing the good guy, but that’s sort of what everyone thinks.”
The director Ruben Fleischer has indicated that the movie could tease plans for the sequel and other spin-offs as part of the larger Venomverse. Here’s what he said:
“We’ve definitely laid some groundwork for different directions that the franchise could go but obviously it all hinges on people’s excitement about this film. I hope people will stay and see what seeds have been planted.”
Sony is planning a series of movies to further expand Venomverse. For instance, it has Silver and Back, Morbius (Jared Leto cast as Michael Morbius), Mysterio, Silk, Kraven The Hunter etc. under development. There might come a day in the future where these anti-heroes will fight Spiderman in a crossover movie.
The ensemble cast is incredibly talented including actors like Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock aka Venom, Michelle Williams as Ann Weying aka She-Venom, Al-Jaleel Knox as Stoner dude, Scott Haze (not yet known), Jenny Slate as Dora Skirth, Riz Ahmed as Dr. Carlton Drake and Woody Harrelson.
The movie is directed by Ruben Fleischer, written by Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner (Dark Tower) and Kelly Marcel (50 Shades of Grey). It is produced by Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Matt Tolmach etc. It is going to be released on October 5, 2018.
