WATCH: Venom Creator Todd McFarlane Surprises Venom: The Last Dance Star Tom Hardy (Exclusive)

Tom Hardy looks to bring Venom’s movie saga to a thrilling close in Venom: The Last Dance, and that adventure wouldn’t be possible without the comics that introduced Venom to the world. First brought to life by Todd McFarlane and David Michelinie back in Amazing Spider-Man #299, Venom has since become one of Marvel’s most popular characters, and now he’s developed a new legion of fans on the big screen. Crazily enough McFarlane and Hardy hadn’t actually met before New York Comic-Con, but ComicBook’s Chris Killian had the chance to be in the room when McFarlane, Hardy, and Venom: The Last Dance director Kelly Marcel all finally crossed paths, and you can watch the moment play out in the video below!

During ComicBook’s interview with Marcel and Hardy, McFarlane surprised the pair after we subtly brought up who created the character. McFarlane entered the room, telling them how special it is to see a character he worked on so long ago reach a whole new audience thanks to the work Hardy, Marcel, and the rest of the team have done in bringing Venom to life in film.

“I appreciate meeting the two of you,” McFarlane said. “I just wanted to say from a personal point of view it’s been a pleasure, seeing this character that I created so long ago with David Michelinie, the writer. But even more so that there’s rarely a day that goes by I don’t run into somebody, usually like kids that come around, they go, ‘Man, I just love those Venom movies, Todd.’ ‘Oh, thanks.’ I just came up with a design that we had no idea (would take off) and you guys are now taking it to the world, right? It’s just been an utter pleasure to sit back and watch it I just want to say thanks to you.”

Marcel told McFarlane “We love him, We love him. We’re such big fans.” Hardy added, “Thank you for creating Venom”, but McFarlane responded, “Oh no, you guys take it to the next level.” Hardy added, “Oh no, we get to play with him. So thank you.”

The Future

While this very well might be Venom‘s final film, it most likely won’t be Knull’s, as Marcel says The Last Dance is really “the beginnings” of Knull’s on-screen story. Marcel assured fans that they know just how important Knull is, and they hope they are laying the same foundation for Knull as they did Hardy’s Venom.

“We were always aware of Knull, but knew that we needed to lay the foundation of the Venom character, and his relationship with Eddie, before introducing him. This is just the beginning for Knull,” Marcel said. “We’re in spoiler territory now and we hope some of the fun of watching this movie is not knowing what will happen, but trust me, we know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull. The King in Black is way too powerful for ‘one and done.’”

Venom: The Last Dance hits theaters on October 25th.