Tom Hardy confirmed to play Venom in Spider-Man spinoff

The actor will lead the project under the guidance of Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer

Sony's Marvel spin-off focusing on Spider-Man villain Venom has found its lead actor in Tom Hardy.

According to reports, the Oscar-nominated actor is in “final negotiations” to play the character under the guidance of Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer. He is said to be playing Eddie Brock, the first character to become the alien symbiote, in the film which has been written by Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, 2014).

The project, which was announced earlier this year, is set to be released 5 October 2018.

Having been forced to cancel the planned Sinister Six film, Sony is rebooting its Marvel-affiliated slate with Spider-Man: Homecoming which will serve as Tom Holland's first solo outing as the web-slinger.

The studio is also prepping films focused on other characters from the Spider-Man universe, including Silver Sable.

Venom, created by writer David Michelinie and artists Todd McFarlane and Mike Zeck, was first introduced in 1968. The character was one of many villains to appear in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 in which he was played by Topher Grace.

Hardy's credits include The Dark Knight Rises, The Revenant, Legend and Christopher Nolan's upcoming WWII drama Dunkirk.