Now a trilogy, the "Venom" movies have a distinct tone for Marvel-derived products, neither somber nor self-referential. That's largely due to its star's input.

"What's really interesting is that you care that much to really look into it. It's cool," he said of the fan theories.

Tom Hardy, from the first "Venom" on, has chosen to offset the uncoolness of doing a comic-book franchise by putting his slumming in quotation marks, playing Eddie as a borderline doofus who talks like a grown-up version of one of the Bowery Boys.