Evil Resident

Move over Deadpool, there’s a new Marvel antihero in town. But will this version of Venom finally do justice to Marvel’s head-chomping symbiote? Total Film meets the team behind the split-personality superhero epic set to shake up the genre and launch a new universe.

- Matt Maytum

Tom Hardy had a pretty great time at San Diego Comic-Con this year, and you don’t know the half of it. “I really enjoyed it,” he grins to Total Film when we catch up shortly afterwards. “I managed to get a mask on and walk around with my son, so it was great being with him to really enjoy it. I had a dad experience, as well as being there with Venom. It was a double whammy of pleasure.”

So, what disguise does someone like Tom Hardy have to don to wander around the convention centre floor, then? “I had a few, actually,” he laughs. “I kept burning them out. I went through Yoda, Deadpool, Spider-Man. I may have done a stint as Venom. I may have done a unicorn and a llama.” He breaks out into a chuckle. “It was really hot. I was trying to find something I could breathe through and see through as well, so I could keep eyes on a roaming young man. In the end, I just took it off, because I was like, ‘You know what? I can’t breathe.’ I walked around. No one really notices you anyway!”

If it’s shocking that someone as famous as the Oscar-nominated Hardy – who has The Dark Knight Rises, Inception and Mad Max: Fury Road on his CV – can stroll through the Comic-Con crowds unscathed, that might be about to change. If the raucous reception that the Venom footage received in Hall H is anything to go by, Hardy will be Comic-Con royalty if this new standalone superhero project delivers on its promise. “Because Venom is such a beloved character as well, that was big, to be in the presence of so many fans who love the character and the comics,” adds Hardy, whose son’s love of the character was a big influence on him taking the role.