Tom Hardy loves Beverly Hills Cop so much that he found a way to plant an Easter Egg about the movie in Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage. The second film in the Venom franchise is a box-office smash, far surpassing its predecessor, with Cinemark claiming Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage’s success at the box office as the largest in the Covid-era. Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage earned 90.1 million dollars domestically on its debut weekend which means roughly 9.8 million theater-goers witnessed Tom Hardy’s tribute to Beverly Hills Cop in the opening weekend alone.

Starring Tom Hardy as reporter Eddie Brock, Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage is set in beautiful San Francisco like the previous film, with Eddie and Venom now working to coexist. Finding themselves at a stalemate over Venom’s brains-and-chocolate diet, the duo breaks up with Eddie evicting Venom from both his body and his apartment. However, when villain Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) transforms into Carnage and comes after Eddie, he and Venom reunite to save themselves, the city, and the world.

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Eddie’s wardrobe throughout Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage leans toward utilitarian, but two clothing items have significant meaning. At Tom Hardy’s request, Eddie sports a shirt and jacket that became a phenomenon decades ago when Eddie Murphy first wore them as Axel Foley. In Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, Eddie Brock wears a Detroit Lions jacket with a Mumford Phys. Ed. Dept. t-shirt underneath as a tribute to the Beverly Hills Cop franchise.

Eddie Brock searches for the bodies of Kasady's victims in Let There Be Carnage

Both the jacket and the shirt underwent slight modifications for Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage while still holding true to the authentic look donned by Murphy in the original films. The famous Detroit Lions jacket worn by Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop II has white sleeves and white detailing with a white-and-blue helmet featured on the breast (the NFL team’s colors) while the jacket worn by Eddie Brock in Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage is mostly black with a dark blue helmet on the breast. When asked about the jacket, Hardy said (via Cinemablend), “Actually there was a thing about that particular jacket because it’s the most bootlegged (jacket) since Axel Foley. So we had to get special permission to make a black, special one that I think belongs to the NFL’s Detroit Lions.” Likewise, the Mumford Phys. Ed. Dept. t-shirt seen on Axel Foley in the Beverly Hills Cop movies is white with gray letters, whereas Brock’s is black with white letters.

Despite the modifications, the items serve as a fun tribute to a legendary character. When asked why he wanted to include the jacket and the shirt, Hardy replied (via the Detroit Free Press), “When I was a kid, I grew up and I remember thinking, 'Oh man, that character is so cool.” He is not alone—the Beverly Hills Cop franchise is one of the most popular film franchises of all time with Beverly Hills Cop maintaining the record of highest-grossing-R-Rated film for nearly 20 years. Some might say that it was a risk to try and emulate such an iconic character, but the subtle, well-designed pieces only add to the already-cool Eddie Brock in Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage.

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