‘Venom’ Director Discusses R-Rating, Promises Most Violent Marvel Character

Sony’s Venom movie is going to isolate itself from any other big screen heroes not only by existing in its own universe but also by crafting a darker, more violent tone than any before it.

Speaking to ComicBook.com at San Diego Comic Con, Venom director Ruben Fleischer was asked if his film is approaching an R-rating or, at the very least, pushing the boundaries of violence and darkness. After all, Venom is a character known to be quite intimidating in Marvel Comics, given his violent and horrifying nature.

“That’s the plan,” Fleischer said. “It is not the plan, that’s the movie. Our movie wants to honor the comics as close as we can tonally. In the comics, he bites people’s heads off and eats brains. It would be weird to make a movie with Venom if he wasn’t doing that. We tried to honor it as closely as possible. This is definitely a darker, more violent, more vicious Marvel character than I think anyone’s ever seen before.”

Footage shown in Hall H at San Diego Comic Con moments after the interview showcased a terrifying portrayal of the character. Not only does it honor his comic book counterpart with sequences which see the symbiote emerging from Eddie Brock’s chest to have a conversation but also in his nature of looking down on human enemies, tormenting them with terrifying (yet beautifully animated) lines of dialogue, and biting their heads right off.

“We really want to honor the comics and the character from the comics and I feel like we did a really good job,” Fleischer said.

It’s worth noting, the footage did not include any foul language or extreme violence directly on the screen. Instead, it simply cut before a villain’s head would be removed by the Marvel anti-hero’s giant teeth. Whether or not the bloody aftermath makes its way into the film is still unclear.

Still, Tom Hardy says it is a film his kids can’t watch just yet.

“Venom is, by far, for me the…coolest Marvel super hero that there is,” Hardy said. “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 is set for release on October 5, 2018.