Tom Hardy being weird is single-handedly keeping Sony’s cursed Marvel franchise alive
One of cinema’s most popular chameleons, there are probably a lot of people out there who have no idea what Tom Hardy sounds like in his day-to-day life, such is the way the actor has developed a habit of trying out a different accent for virtually every role.
The actor is at his very best when he’s given the leeway to fully commit to his performances, whether that’s his manically muscular breakthrough in Bronson, the incomprehensible but still fearsome Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, his grizzled and garbled Academy Award-nominated turn in The Revenant, or even his prosthetic-laden exercise in scenery-chewing in the otherwise forgettable Capone.
Not many studios seeking to buffer their bottom lines would hand such an unpredictable and fully-dedicated performer almost complete creative autonomy to shepherd a major superhero franchise, but it’s become increasingly clear that Hardy’s uninhibited weirdness is about the only thing keeping Sony’s expanded universe of comic book characters afloat.
He was only the star and executive producer of Venom, but the scene where his Eddie Brock plunges himself into a lobster tank was improvised on the day by the leading man, while he confirmed the distinctive voice of his symbiotic alter-ego was obviously a combination of Busta Rhymes, Method Man, Redman, James Brown, and Richard Burton, which he also performs.
The origin story cleared $850million at the box office, and Hardy was rewarded by being upgraded to not only a full-blown producer on the sequel, Let There Be Carnage, but the co-creator of the story alongside long-time writing partner Kelly Marcel. It was Hardy who hand-picked Andy Serkis for the director’s chair, doubled down on the high camp, refitted the film into a love story between a man and his parasite, and watched it clear half a billion in ticket sales despite releasing in the throes of the pandemic.
As implied by the title, Venom: The Last Dance will mark the end of the trilogy, with Marcel directing this time around. The trailer is suitably outlandish, and while it would be a stretch to say that any of them are good, they’re nonetheless entirely reflective of Hardy’s creative influence. After all, he’s at his best when he’s a weird guy doing weird things, and what better way to indulge that than on the biggest scale possible after being handed the keys to the kingdom.
Explaining his increasing oversight to Forbes, Hardy acknowledged that it’s been his intention to keep upping the offbeat ante each time out. “We wrote the second one, we pitched it, got to direct, put the team together on that, that was huge,” he said. “To me and Kelly, it’s so important to pour in everything that we can to build on that opportunity. So by the third one now, Kelly is directing it, she’s writing, I’m attached to it at the hip and shoulder, like whatever you need, we’ll figure it out.”
The Venom movies aren’t going to win any awards, but at least they have personality, something that can’t be said about the rest of Sony’s stable. Hardy’s outlined his approach to a blockbuster by asking; “If the mission statement is commercial, blockbuster, action, and superhero movie, how can we imbue a sense of something that’s fun and different?” The answer, clearly, is to get weird, something the rest of the franchise has bungled spectacularly.
Jared Leto’s Morbius and Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web are two of the worst comic book flicks of the 21st century’s boom period, which possess so little in the way of originality they could have been made by just about anyone, not to mention the obvious reshoots mandated by the studio.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter was supposed to release in January 2023 but won’t arrive until December 2024, which is hardly encouraging. Combined, Morbius and Madame Web barely made half as as much as Let There Be Carnage, which itself earned significantly less than its predecessor.
There’s no magic rule to salvaging a tarnished brand, but the fact audiences can’t seem to get enough of Hardy’s histrionics indicates that handing the reins to a star famous for taking their performances away from the beaten track and completely off the rails isn’t the worst idea in the world. If it wasn’t for him, then the plug on the entire thing may have been pulled already.
