We’ll probably get a new Venom trailer next week when the film hits San Diego Comic-Con, but for the time being, EW has released a couple new images from the upcoming superhero movie. For those unfamiliar with the character, in the comics he came from an alien symbiote that was previously attached to Spider-Man, so when it found disgraced journalist Eddie Brock, the symbiote gave him Spider-Man’s powers. However, the movie won’t involve Spider-Man, so in a recent interview with EW, we learn that they’re just cutting Spidey out of the story and it’s about a disgraced journalist who merges with an alien symbiote.

Tom Hardy, who played Brock, tells EW that the film is about the two sides learning to work together, although he also likes the “tragic clown element” of playing this character:

“There’s a tragic clown element, which I find funny and is harmonious with some of the work that I like to do,” the British actor, 40, says. “There’s something funny about the circumstances of having a gift but it’s a tragic gift. It’s a superpower you don’t really want, but at the same time, you love it. It makes you feel special. He’s a reluctant hero and an anti-hero.”

Director Ruben Fleischer elaborated that the symbiote is similar to getting bit by a werewolf and then you have a dark side but also werewolf powers. However, in the case of the alien symbiote, they wanted to make it about both Brock and the symbiote learn to work together:

“Usually a human gets imbued with powers or an alien comes from outer space and has to figure out how to live on our Earth,” Fleischer says. “But this is really about a relationship between two people who have to work together to create this hybrid symbiotic relationship.”

Hardy, a man of many voices, talked about trying to create two different ones for his two characters:

“It’s a bit like Ren and Stimpy, you know?” Hardy says, laughing. “They have different sounds. I always saw Venom as sounding like a James Brown lounge lizard, and Eddie Brock is kind of…” — he switches to an aw-shucks American accent — “I don’t know, an everyday kind of guy. But he’s inherited this massive ego, this beast.”

Check out the new images below. Venom opens October 5th and also stars Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, and Jenny Slate.