A movie based on Marvel Comics character Venom has been announced with Tom Hardy starring. The movie will be directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) with a fall 2018 release date. This is surprising news since we're still a good two months before Spider-Man: Homecoming hits theaters, but maybe Sony's standalone Marvel universe is taking a cue from DCEU in the announcement business. Fleischer was reportedly chosen for his ability to mix dark themes with humor in Zombieland and Hardy, holy cow. What a great choice to portray Venom. Hardy will now go from the DC Universe and into the Marvel Universe for this role.

Hollywood Reporter announced that the Venom movie is not a spin-off of the Marvel Spider-Man movie, it's actually the first movie after Spider-Man from its Marvel Universe of characters. Technicalities, everyone! We will see Oscar nominated Hardy's Eddie Brock have a relationship with the symbiote, which will then see him turning into Venom. In addition to appearing in the comics with Spider-Man, Venom has also been with Iron Man, Deadpool, Hulk, and many more Marvel characters. But don't expect to see any of them in this standalone adventure for the anti-hero.

Sony is also developing a Silver Sable/Black Cat project along with more characters from Spider-Man, but Venom is their next big focus. Sony told the Hollywood Reporter this.

"Venom is to usher in a host of movies from Sony's Marvel and Spider-Man-based universe of characters. Sony is rebooting its Marvel-based slate with this summer's Spider-Man: Homecoming and Venom is a key title in its slate."

Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner wrote the script for Venom and no plot has been announced, but one can assume we might see an origin story of Venom. Pinkner had previously worked on 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Amy Pascal are set to produce the new movie.

It has also been reported that Venom will not be a joint production with Marvel and Tom Holland's Spider-Man will not appear in the movie. Spider-Man: Homecoming was directed by John Watts and will open on July 7th, 2017. Hardy is quite possibly the best choice for this role and it is extremely exciting to think about what he will be bringing to the table. Hardy's portrayal of the menacing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was extraordinary and terrifying. It will interesting to see how he pulls off the complex nature of Venom.

Venom first appeared in the The Amazing Spider-Man #252 in 1984 as a symbiote suit that Spider-Man wore. It was several years later when the creature left Peter Parker and merged with photographer Eddie Brock that Venom emerged. Will we possibly get a movie featuring Carnage as Venom's archenemy? Only time will tell, but that would be amazing. Venom officially opens on October 5th, 2018 in theaters everywhere. But until then, let the excitement and speculation begin! It has also been reported that Hardy is huge fan of Venom and it appears that he is just as excited as we all are. Check out Sony Pictures Twitter announcement below with Hardy taking a selfie with a Venom t-shirt on.