Tom Hardy Defends 'Venom' Rating

Many Marvel fans were hoping that Sony and Tom Hardy's Venom would end up being Rated-R, but alas it ended up being PG-13. As Hardy lays out though, that doesn't mean they don't have room to explore darker scenarios.

The move to PG-13 allows for an expanded audience, but as Hardy and Riz Ahmed told MTV International, they still have room to play when it comes to darker material. That said, it also doesn't have to come at the expense of younger fans, who Hardy says are already familiar with the character and don't seem to be affected by him.

"Is it going to be R-Rated? That's the big question and the answers been answered, isn't it? (It's a 15 in the UK) and it's a PG-13 in the states, but to be fair the thing can fulcrum into R-Rated and fulcrum into youth or children," Hardy said. "My littlest ones, they watch Spider-Man and Venom quite comfortably and Venom toys appear and LEGO appear. So it's not like they're scared by him, and at the same time there's a lot in the real estate that you can actually imbue with a complete sense of gratuitous violence if you really wanted to, and I think you've got the right people for that job if you want to push it, course that's where I want to go with it."

While Hardy thinks younger fans can handle the character just fine, even with a PG-13 rating there are some things in this film that he might hold back from his son...at least for a little bit.

"Venom is, by far, for me the...coolest Marvel super hero that there is," Hardy told ComicBook.com. "I just like the way he looks first and foremost. Then, also, there's my son and he's a massive Venom fan. He was a very strong influence on me as to why I ought to play Venom specifically...So I did something where I bite people's heads off which my son can't see."

Venom stars Tom Hardy (Venom/Eddie Brock), Michelle Williams (Anne Weying), Jenny Slate, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Lee (Donna Diego), Riz Ahmed (Dr. Carlton Drake), Sope Aluko (Dr. Rosie Collins), and Reid Scott.

Venom lands in theaters on Friday, Oct. 5.