Tom Hardy will star as Eddie Brock in Venom , with Zombieland's Ruben Fleischer set to direct.

Tom Hardy, who will star as Eddie Brock/Venom

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IGN can confirm Hardy's involvement as Brock in the film from Sony's Marvel Universe, which will be released on October 5, 2018. Production will start this fall.Venom will be the first film debuting Sony's bid to build out its own Marvel Universe, despite Sony's unique deal with Marvel Studios to include Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , is not a spinoff from the existing MCU films. Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts discussed how the films won't be connected earlier this year. And Sony's Marvel Universe will reportedly include a Black Cat/Silver Sable film Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Amy Pascal are producing the film, with Palak Patel and Eric Fineman overseeing for Columbia Pictures.IGN's own Up at Noon theorized about a Hardy/Venom casting weeks ago: Sony set a release date for Venom earlier this year , revealing the long in-development project was back on track.Reports have suggested that the film will be of the action, horror, and sci-fi genres Hardy has of course previously appeared in comic book adaptations, having starred as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises . Topher Grace previously starred as Eddie Brock in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 , the final film in Sony's first adaptation of the Spider-Man universe. Spider-Man: Homecoming will release on July 7.

Jonathon Dornbush is an Associate Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter @jmdornbush