Venom 2: Tom Hardy Confirmed To Return

What'd'ya say, Hardy? Ready for round two with Venom?

Venom 2 producer Amy Pascal recently confirmed in an interview with Fandango that Tom Hardy will indeed return for the upcoming sequel, due out in theaters on October 2, 2020. 

She also noted that she'll be "100 percent completely" involved with Venom 2, the follow-up to the 2018 original that followed Hardy's Eddie Brock as he becomes the host to an insidious alien symbiote known as Venom. 

"I can say that Tom Hardy will be back, magnificently playing that character as no one else can," Pascal shared, adding that there were multiple factors that made Venom as financially successful as it was and why Sony Pictures gave the a-okay to a sequel just a few months after the film's debut. Hardy's talents and natural ability to get moviegoers' butts in theater seats was a major reason why Venom scored over $855 million worldwide, so it's no surprise that he's coming back for Venom 2. 

As Pascal said, "Sony did a great job creating that franchise and giving it a life and giving it its own world. Then there's Tom Hardy. When you think of Venom, you'll never be able to think of anyone but Tom Hardy sitting in that bathtub of lobsters. And once you saw Tom Hardy do this character, that's all you needed to know."

It was basically guaranteed that Venom would score a sequel from the get-go, since the original flick featured a post-credits scene that showed Eddie Brock getting back to his life as a journalist and heading to San Quentin prison to interview an incarcerated serial killer. That prisoner was none other than Cletus Kasady, played by Woody Harrelson (in perhaps the most bananas wig we've ever laid eyes on). Kasady promised Brock that as soon as he breaks free from his cell, there's "gonna be carnage."

In the Marvel comics, another alien symbiote bonds with Kasady and transforms him into Carnage, a much more powerful, violent, and lethal entity than Brock and Venom ever were together. Kasady eventually escapes prison, goes on a killing spree, and faces off against – gasp! — Spider-Man. The web-slinging teen hero surrenders to Venom and fights Carnage, who is (seemingly) ultimately defeated with sonic weapons. The truth of the matter is that the symbiote actually bonded to Kasady's blood and is still alive post-battle.

Though we've heard no official word on Venom 2's plot, it seems likely that the flick will follow the comics to some degree. Harrelson revealed over a year ago, in May of 2018, that he plays a significantly larger role in the sequel than he did in the original: "I'm in a little fraction of this movie, but I'll be in the next one." No one involved with Venom 2 has confirmed Harrelson's claim, but it's sort of a given considering his involvement in the first film's end-credits stinger, which seems to set up the events of the forthcoming movie. 

If Venom 2 does stick by its source material and feature Spider-Man in some capacity, that could mean Tom Holland will swing into the story. Pascal didn't confirm or deny that Spider-Man and Venom will share the screen soon, but she did tease that it's a definite possibility. "Everybody would love to see that. You never know someday... it might happen," she said. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige also recently stated that it "seems likely" that Spidey and Venom will be together in a future movie, though the decision to make that a reality is up to Sony. 

No matter what Sony has planned for Venom 2, it's bound to be much better than its predecessor, which was slammed as "chaotic, noisy, and in desperate need of a stronger attachment to Spider-Man."

Venom 2 is slated to hit cinemas on October 2, 2020.