Tom Hardy Reacts to ‘Venom’ PG-13 Rating, Says He’s ‘More Than Happy to Stand Alone’ When Asked About MCU Crossover

Tom Hardy breaks his silence on “Venom‘s” much-debated PG-13 rating in a video interview with MTV (via The Playlist). The actor joined co-star Riz Ahmed for the sit-down and tried to explain why a PG-13 movie centered around his famous villain isn’t a cause for concern. Many fans expected “Venom” to earn an R rating given director Ruben Fleischer’s teases that the movie is the “most violent” Marvel release to date.

“To be fair, the [‘Venom’ property] can fulcrum into R-Rated and fulcrum into youth or children,” Hardy said. “My littlest ones, they watch Spider-Man and Venom quite comfortably and Venom toys appear and LEGO appear. So it’s not like they’re scared by him, and at the same time there’s a lot in the real estate that you can actually imbue with a complete sense of gratuitous ultra-violence if you really wanted to, and I think you’ve got the right people for that job if you want to push it, ‘cause that’s where I’d love to go with it.”

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Hardy’s comment tries to argue that “Venom” can skew both younger and older, but it’s hard not to read his “gratuitous ultra-violence” line as proof that he was ultimately hoping Sony would let his tentpole movie go with a hard R. The blockbuster success of the R-rated “Deadpool” franchise seemed like it would inspire confidence at Sony to release “Venom” with the restricted rating, but the studio ended up going with a PG-13.

Sources told Variety in August that Sony wanted a PG-13 rating on “Venom” in order to leave the door open for a potential future crossover with Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While “Venom” is the first movie in a Sony-backed superhero universe, the studio shares Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Man with Disney. When asked about entering the MCU, Ahmed joked that a Venom/Avengers crossover would result in the villain trying to eat the Hulk. More seriously, Hardy said he’s not viewing joining the MCU as an essential step.

“If [we don’t crossover], we’re more than happy to stand alone,” Hardy said. “We have a Venom-verse and 900 characters to play with.”

Sony releases “Venom” nationwide October 5. Watch Hardy and Ahmed’s MTV video interview below.