How Tom Hardy helped write Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage

Venom was Tom Hardy’s first foray into the Marvel universe, and Let There be Carnage will be the first movie he has received official writing credits for.

In 2018, Tom Hardy made his Marvel debut as Venom, the classic Spider-Man villain who is half journalist Eddie Brock, half terrifying symbiote. The movie was a smash hit at the box office, raking in over $850 million worldwide and kickstarting the movie franchise known as the “Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.” And now, Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage is on the way.

Directed by Andy Serkis, Venom 2 sees Eddie Brock continue to struggle to come to grips with being the host of the brutal symbiote. All the while, he attempts to further pursue his career as a journalist. Unfortunately, he quickly finds himself interviewing serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), who later becomes the host for Carnage.

Speaking to Empire, Venom 2 screenwriter Kelly Marcel explained how Hardy actually involved in the writing of the sequel. “This is new for him, to get credit,” she said. “But it’s not new for him to be this involved. He’s absolutely 100 percent committed to everything that he does.” She would know, given they have worked together for almost 20 years. In fact, the actor even has a tattoo that says “Skribe,” in tribute to Marcel!

His passion doesn’t stop there. “He’s married to Venom,” Marcel added. “He loves this character. He’s very involved in what he thinks should happen.”

Hardy’s writing process doesn’t necessarily involve writing the scrips himself; they have professional screenwriters, after all. However, he did spend a lot of time talking over ideas with Marcel:

"He doesn’t get a pen and write. We spent months breaking the story together on FaceTime, riffing on ideas, seeing what worked, seeing what didn’t. Then I took everything we spoke about and holed up somewhere for three months quietly, knocking out a script."

It sounds like many of his ideas have made it into the final product, at least enough to warrant giving him an official writing credit, the first in his career to date.

Following a few lengthy delays, Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage will arrive in theaters on September 24!

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