Tom Hardy to star Spider Man spin-off

Tom Hardy has been confirmed to star in Sony’s long-awaited Spider-Man spin-off Venom. The Oscar nominee for The Revenant will give life to one of the most notorious antagonists of the franchise, Venom, which was previously brought to life in Spider-Man 3 by Topher Grace. The film will be directed by the Zombieland famed Ruben Fleischer whose most recent credits includes episodes of the Drew Barrymore comedy Santa Clarita Diet. Hardy plays Eddie Brock, a freelance photographer who becomes infected by an alien lifeform that needs a host in order to survive. Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner have jointly penned the film’s screenplay. On Friday, to announce the news, Sony released a picture of Hardy in a Venom T-shirt. The Mad Max: Fury Road star’s role as Venom would mean that Tom will have played antagonist for both Marvel and DC, having played the role of Bane in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises. Tom Hardy was last seen in the TV series Taboo and will next feature in this summer’s World War II drama Dunkirk.