Following his memorable turn as hulking supervillain Bane in the 2012 blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy is set to return to the comic-book genre in 2018.

The brooding British star of Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The Revenant (2015) and the recent BBC series Taboo (2017) is taking on another villainous role in the form of Eddie Brock / Venom in an upcoming spinoff to the Spider-Man series.

Sony Pictures confirmed the casting via Twitter yesterday with the film set to be directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad).

The spinoff is not linked to Marvel owing to Sony’s current deal with Marvel Studios which has Spider-Man appearing in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming as well as the two Avengers: Infinity War outings.

For those unfamiliar with the character, Eddie Brock was a journalist whose anger towards superhero Spider-Man led to him transforming into a virtual rage-monster who was determined to kill the web-slinger. Venom would ultimately join forces with Spidey from time to time.

The character was previously portrayed on the big-screen by Topher Grace in the ridiculed Spider-Man 3 (2007) though Hardy’s depiction may prove more popular with many fans.

The Venom spinoff is scheduled for release on October 5th 2018.