Okay, quick, who has the name “Eddie” repeating in their head on a loop in a deep, alarming voice after watching the Venom trailer #2? All of us? Cool. And if so, you’re probably wondering who does the voice of Venom in the movie.
Guess what? It’s Tom Hardy who does the voice of Venom. See, that was easy! America’s foremost vocal expert has a habit of coming up with bizarre voices for his roles, from Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, to on TV in Taboo. But he’s actually pulling double duty in the upcoming Marvel movie. He does a high, pseudo-New York accent as human Eddie Brock. And the deep, demon voice you hear exuding from the Venom symbiote is also Hardy.
Presumably he’s using some sort of voice distortion in post, or he’s been bleeding from the throat for the past several months (also a possibility). But once you realize it’s Hardy, you’ll be able to hear the tinges of Bane behind the toothy grin and long tongue.
Hardy isn’t the first person to play the voice of Venom, though. The character has appeared in dozens of cartoons and video games. In the 1994 Spider-Man: The Animated Series, he was voiced by none other than Hank Azaria. Brian Drummond and Benjamin Diskin.
In a Phineas & Ferb crossover, cult actor Danny Trejo voiced the symbiote, while in the animated Lego Marvel Super-Heroes: Maximum Overload, he was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker who – confusingly – does the voice of Perry the Platypus on Phineas & Ferb.
And in Spider-Man 3, Venom was voiced by Topher Grace, who played Eddie Brock. In a surprising twist, his voice sounded like… Topher Grace. It was a weird movie, you guys.
Anyway, Hardy does the voice of Venom admirably, I’d say. Not that comics have a lot of audio involved (along with smell, hearing is one of the senses not stimulated by comics), but his Venom voice sounds accurate. Whether it’ll pan out well over the course of the movie, we’ll have to wait and see.
Listen to Hardy’s Venom voice at length in the Venom trailer #2:
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