Newly discovered spider named after Tom Hardy's Venom

The world of Marvel’s Spider-Man is one that goes beyond comics, movies, TV series and video games. It also swings into the real world of wildlife, apparently.

The 2018 Venom movie from Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures stars Tom Hardy as investigative reporter Eddie Brock. In it, as is the case in just about any other form of Venom adaptation, Eddie Brock is consumed by the alien entity known as the symbiote, which grants him superhuman powers, but at a cost.

Check out the Venom trailer below!

When infused with the symbiote, Eddie Brock may be able to go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man (though Peter Parker has yet to feature in recent live-action movies), his powers come with the added baggage of harvesting a second personality, namely, Venom. At least for Eddie Brock in the 2018 movie, Venom isn't quite as evil as he is in the comics. However, that may change if he is to ever meet Peter Parker in person during an upcoming movie, once Venom gets a taste of the friendly neighbourhood hero.

As reported by IGN, in celebration of the 2018 Venom movie starring Tom Hardy, a newly discovered species of spider found in Australia (because of course), has been named ‘Venomius tomhardyi’.

The spider was given its name due to markings on its body, apparently reminiscent of the symbiote's face from the movie. Authors of the published study Evolutionary Systematics believed that the markings had a likeness to Eddie Brock’s face when he merged with the symbiote. Though it’s a shame this spider isn't actually jet black and white.

In related news, a Venom spinoff game is reportedly in development from Marvel’s Spider-Man studio, Insomniac Games, speaking of which, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has received its official rating.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be released exclusively for the PlayStation 5 on 20 October 2023.