(RNN) - Sony has chosen one of Hollywood's best to star in the upcoming Venom, a spin-off movie produced by Sony Pictures to introduce Spider-Man's nemesis of the same name.
Tom Hardy (Inception, The Revenant) is in final negotiations to star as Eddie Brock, adversary to Peter Parker and host of the Venom symbiote, which gives Brock his alien powers.
Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) will direct the project.
The title is set to introduce a new series of movies from Sony and Marvel's Spider-Man universe. Venom will be released Oct. 5, 2018.
After the announcement, Sony tweeted a photo of Hardy embracing his new role as Venom.
Tom Hardy is Eddie Brock in #Venom, the upcoming film from Sony’s Marvel Universe releasing October 5, 2018 – production starts this fall. pic.twitter.com/OZQqDEvoum
— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) May 19, 2017
Spiderman: Homecoming, Marvel's reboot for the character, hits theaters on July 7 and will give Spider-Man a formal welcome to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he'll begin his journey to becoming a member of superhero group 'The Avengers.'
Actor Tom Holland portrays Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner, who both worked on 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, wrote the script for Venom. No other details about the script have been made public.
Venom first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #300 and was created by Randy Schueller, David Michelinie, Mike Zeck and Todd McFarlane.
Topher Grace (That '70s Show) first portrayed Venom on the big screen in 2007's Spider-Man 3, which starred Tobey Maguire (Seabiscuit, The Great Gatsby) as Spider-Man.
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