Tom Hardy Says He is Contracted for Three Venom Movies

With the release of Sony’s anti-hero Venom just about a month away, it has been revealed that star Tom Hardy has signed on to play the titular character for three films. This is dependent of how well this first film does and is pretty standard for actors/actresses signing on to potential franchises. Hardy talked with Total Film Magazine (via Screen Rant) about the possibility of future films, which you can read a snippet of the interview below:

“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 hope for Sony and Venom is that the franchise will be a success and spawn Sony’s own Marvel Cinematic Universe and fulfill the contractual obligation that Hardy has signed, like most of the MCU actors that have signed on for multiple films. Unfortunately, this is not always the case like that of 20th Century Fox’s attempt at a new Fantastic Four film.

Venom will hail from Sony’s Marvel Universe of characters and will not be a spinoff of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, wherein Sony allows Spider-Man to be played by Tom Holland. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing along with Amy Pascal, with Palak Patel and Eric Fineman overseeing for Columbia Pictures.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) and written by Scott Rosenberg (Pain & Gain, Jumanji) & Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2), the Venom film is set for an October 5, 2018 release date.

First appearing in the comic book series as an alien costume worn by Spider-Man in Marvel‘s The Amazing Spider-Man #252 in 1984, it was several years before the creature left Peter Parker and merged with photographer Eddie Brock, forming the antihero known as Venom. Since then, the character has appeared in a variety of different forms and bonded with several different hosts. In the “Ultimate” Marvel Universe, the suit has a more terrestrial origin, created by Parker and Brock’s scientist parents in an attempt to cure cancer. More recently, the Venom symbiote has been moving between hosts, including Mac Gargan (aka The Scorpion) and Peter Parker’s old high school rival, Flash Thompson.