New 'Venom' Behind-The-Scenes Photos Show Possible First Glimpse Of Costume

A new behind-the-scenes photo of Tom Hardy on the set of Venom may have given fans their first glimpse at the star in costume as the symbiotic anti-hero.

The photo was found on a Tom Hardy fan Instagram account. Like most of the behind-the-scenes photos released for the film so far, the photo shows Hardy obscured by shadow, but he is wearing what looks like a set of tactical gear with a black underlayer.

Take a look below:

Poster's note: Post 2 of 2 **Please swipe for more pics Behind the scenes #tomhardy @tomhardydotorg @jaketomuri @jacob_tomuri @venommovie #bts

A post shared by tomhardydotorg (@tomhardydotorg) on Dec 1, 2017 at 3:23pm PST

This likely doesn't look like the traditional Venom costume that fans are used to. However, if you take into account that Tom Hardy's Venom is rumored to be borrowing the military background of the Flash Thompson "Agent Venom" version of the character – the best version of Venom – instead of Eddie Brock's bitter, disgraced reporter angle from the comics, then it makes a bit more sense.

However, there's also a chance that this is just Eddie Brock wearing tactical gear before he becomes attached to the symbiote that turns him into Venom. Unless the movie is picking up after Brock makes his first contact, which is not something we've heard so far, it would make sense that we'd see some of Brock's pre-venom history in the movie. This photo may be from the filming of one of those scenes, which would explain why Hardy isn't completely covered in black and white.

We also know that Hardy's full-on Venom appearance will be created using CGI. As such, it would be impossible to catch him in true Venom form in a behind-the-scenes photo, and we see no evidence of motion capture in this photo.

Character breakdowns from the film suggest that Venom's plot will be based on the "Lethal Protector" storyline from the 1990s. That story sees Venom going up against the Life Foundation, a group interested in using the Venom symbiote to spawn more symbiotes. This story would provide the perfect cinematic origin for Carnage, the insane symbiote who is expected to be the villain of the film. Rumor has it that Riz Ahmed will be playing Carnage's human host, the serial killer Cletus Kasady.

Venom is currently filming and scheduled for theatrical release on October 5, 2018.