Deadline is reporting that Tom Hardy will suit up as Venom in Sony’s new film, with Gangster Squad director Ruben Fleischer set to helm. Production on the pic is expected to get underway this fall, with an October 5th, 2018 release date being eyed. From what we understand, the project is a top priority for the studio and the rest of the cast is expected to fill out shortly.
Given that Marvel won’t be involved in Venom, don’t expect to see Tom Holland’s web-slinger show up here. However, with Sony also developing a spinoff for Black Cat and Silver Sable, those two characters will likely be involved in some capacity – probably via a quick cameo to lay the groundwork for their film. As for who else could feature, that’s anyone’s guess, but the studio is clearly building their own little shared universe and you can bet that it won’t be limited to just Venom, Black Cat and Silver Sable.
We don’t know much about Sony’s plans for the project just yet, but it will be R-rated, which is encouraging to hear and will undoubtedly make a bold statement of intent for the studio’s own Marvel universe. Still, the decision not to have Spider-Man involved is one that we can’t quite get over.
After all, the character of Venom is inextricable from Spidey, and keeping him separated from the MCU version of the hero leaves Sony with two pretty unappetizing options. The best would be to simply allude to an off-screen Spidey without ever showing him, and the second is to rewrite the character’s origin in a way that excludes Peter Parker completely. But at that point, why are you even making a Venom movie?
Again, it’s an odd route to head down, but there’s no denying that Tom Hardy is a hugely exciting choice to play the character and given that he’s a tremendously talented individual, we’re able to remain fairly optimistic that the spinoff will find success, even despite being removed from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
