Tom Hardy will play Venom in upcoming Spider-man spin-off

Tom Hardy has taken on quite a venom-enal challenge... Geddit geddit?

The Rock n Rolla actor will be playing Marvel's supervillain Venom in the upcoming spin-off.

Sony Pictures took to social media to break the news.

Venom is one of Spider-man's most popular villains. The character is an alien symbiote that needs a host to survive. Tom Hardy will be playing the role of Eddie Brock, the first incarnation of the supervillain, also the best known.

This is not the first villain role in a superhero film for Hardy. He has previously played Batman's nemesis Bane in Dark Knight Rises. While many loved his performance (many had a Hardy bias) it still had mixed reviews due to the extreme stray from the comic book character. Perhaps this shift to Marvel will prove successful?

Hollywood Reporter has also confirmed that Zombieland director, Ruben Fleischer, will be directing this film. Sounds like an interesting pairing!

Will Marvel's favourite wall-crawler have an appearance in this upcoming movie? We'll have to wait and see!

The film is set for release on October 5, 2018.