AceShowbiz -

Filming on Sony's "Venom (2018)" kicked off on Monday, October 23, and the very first photo from the set made its way out online. Arriving via the upcoming Spider-Man spin-off's official Twitter account, the picture gave first look at its lead star Tom Hardy.

Not much could be gathered from the brand new photo except that Hardy appears to be having a good time on the first day of filming. Simply captioned with "Day 1. #Venom," the photo featured the 40-year-old hunky actor sporting a black tee and olive green military pants while showing off his sleeve tattoos.

Day 1. #Venom pic.twitter.com/ftkf9pEWn3

— Venom Movie (@VenomMovie) October 24, 2017

None of Hardy's co-stars were spotted on the filming set. In "Venom", the Academy Award-nominated actor stars opposite Emmy Award winner Riz Ahmed ("The Night Of"), 4-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams ("Manchester by the Sea"), actress/comedienne Jenny Slate ("Gifted"), Reid Scott ("Veep") and Scott Haze ("Only the Brave").

37-year-old pixie-haired Williams is set to play a district attorney who possibly becomes a love interest to Hardy's Eddie Brock, while 35-year-old Slate is attached to portray a scientist, though details about the character are still kept under wraps. As for the other three male co-stars, the characters they will play are yet to be disclosed.

Ruben Fleischer, who is best known as the director of 2009's critically-acclaimed and financially-successful "Zombieland", is directing the film from a script by Scott Rosenberg ("Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle") and Jeff Pinker ("The Dark Tower"). Matthew Tolmach and Avi Arad are producing along with Amy Pascal.

Based on the villain who appeared in "Spider-Man 3", the Venom solo film is set to open in theaters across the nation on October 5 next year. It's expected that the character could serve as an antidote to the aging "Spider-Man" franchise in the way that Fox has used Wolverine to add longevity to its "X-Men" franchise.