Tom Hardy is a gifted actor, but he often hides his face behind a mask in a lot of the movies he’s in (check out Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Dunkirk for some examples). The fact that fans rarely get to see his unobstructed mug is the only thing that makes the first official photo of Hardy as the lead character in Venom interesting in the slightest. Turns out that when Eddie Brock hasn’t been possessed by the Symbiote, he looks exactly like Tom Hardy does in a pretty boring photo!
Although the Venom movie has shared black and white set photos before, IGN posted the first official image of Hardy in character on Thursday. As reporter Eddie Brock, Hardy is wearing a blue shirt, some cool rope bracelets, and holding a notebook where he’s written what are presumably interview questions.
The text is hard to make out, but it’s the most interesting thing about the image for eagle-eyed fans. “How exactly does the Life Foundation go about testing its pharmaceuticals?” Eddie’s notebook says.
Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock in 'Venom'
The Life Foundation first appeared in Marvel comics in 1988 in an Amazing Spider-Man issue created by David Michelinie and Todd McFarlane. The group believed that the Cold War would end in a nuclear holocaust, and they aimed to keep their rich clients alive and safe in a giant fall-out shelter. To protect them, the Life Foundation used the Venom Symbiote to create five new creatures named Agony, Phage, Riot, Lasher, and Scream.
Venom will hit theaters in 2018, and the Cold War ended in 1991, so one can assume the movie will take some liberties with the storyline, which had already been rumored to serve as the basis for the film. But, it seems like we’re in for a movie where Venom fights one or more Symbiotes.
Let’s just hope he looks cooler than Tom Hardy in a shirt.
Venom comes out on October 5.
