Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock is fully transformed into his gooey-black counterpart in new images from Ruben Fleischer's Venom, which the director compares to a werewolf movie. The film, which isn't part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as far as we know), finds Brock reeling from a recent scandal. Determined to get his journalism career back on track, Eddie heads out to San Francisco to investigate the shady Life Foundation and its boss, Dr. Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), only to find a very different type of trouble than he expected to uncover.

Loosely adapted from David Michelinie's Lethal Protector comics by writers Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), the Venom movie will be featured during Sony Pictures' Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con next week. In the meantime, some additional photos from the film have been released, including a fresh look at Hardy transformed. Fleischer has also shed more light on the movie's body horror elements and how its version of the Eddie Brock/Venom relationship works.

Venom has been sold on the idea that it takes inspiration from body horror movies like The Thing and The Fly, but Fleischer told EW “We talked a lot about a werewolf and what it is when you get infected or bit by a werewolf", during production on the film. The Venom trailer shows Eddie and Venom struggling against one another to take control of the body they share and Fleischer confirmed that his movie is very much about this internal conflict. You can check out a fully-transformed Venom in the photos below, along with a fresh look at Ahmed as the film's corporate villain.

The Zombieland director further indicated that Venom aims to subvert the trope of an alien coming to earth and disguising itself as a human by depicting the Eddie/Venom dynamic in this way. He noted:

“Usually a human gets imbued with powers or an alien comes from outer space and has to figure out how to live on our Earth. But this is really about a relationship between two people who have to work together to create this hybrid symbiotic relationship.”

These new Venom images further showcase the titular character's comic book-faithful appearance. If Fleischer is to be believed, the Eddie/Venom relationship in the film will be similarly loyal to its source material. Amusingly enough, this is the second time Pinkner and Rosenberg have played with the concept of someone trapped in a body other than their own, after their efforts on the Jumanji sequel. Hardy being transformed by a vicious alien symbiote will naturally be far more horrifying than a teenager waking up in Dwayne Johnson or Jack Black's body (in theory, anyway), but the werewolf comparison suggests Fleischer and his team are on the right track with their approach here.

MORE: Every Spider-Man Villain Movie Sony is Developing

Source: EW

Key Release Dates