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.

These have been consistently messy, almost willfully bad movies, but Hardy’s performance has been a strangely compelling one-body buddy comedy. It’s one thing to throw a cape on and jump the sky. It’s another to run manically through the desert with an alien voice inside barking,