Due to Sony’s spinoff film being set in its own continuity, Venom will make some major changes to the story of Eddie Brock and his vicious other half. We’re prepared for the fact that the villain won’t have any ties to Spider-Man, but it’s also worth mentioning that this means the origin of the symbiote that bonds with the journalist will likewise be altered.
While speaking to IGN, VFX supervisor Paul Franklin revealed that the film’s opening will explain how the Life Foundation, run by Riz Ahmed’s Carlton Drake, hoovered up the symbiotes with a space probe when scanning an asteroid.
“We see, at the beginning of the film, the moment when the symbiotes are collected up by a Life Foundation space probe, which finds them on a comet drifting through space, approaching Earth. And the space probe is out there looking for signs of life, and they can’t believe their luck. There’s life signals everywhere, all across this asteroid,”
This is pretty different from the classic comic origin story for the Venom symbiote, which first featured in the Secret Wars arc when Peter Parker got himself a cool new black suit while in space, only later realizing that it was made from a sinister lifeform.
Franklin went on to explain that the Life Foundation is actually being manipulated by the symbiotes themselves as the critters wanted to be transported back to Earth – a planet full of hosts for them to bond with.
“The symbiotes seem to actively want to be collected. Because it’s all part of their plan to come to Earth. They’re looking for planets where they can find hosts to inhabit. They’ve never really found a place where they can exist in harmony with the life forms of whatever planet they find themselves on.”
Full blame for the symbiotes being let loose on Earth can be lain at the Life Foundation’s door, then, says production designer Oliver Scholl, as the organization is really a heartless, evil company engaging in dark and unethical experimentation with aspirations for world domination. So, you know, your typical comic book villainous corporation.
“The fun thing about the Life Foundation is that it’s a cover. Character-wise, it’s a cover. The company itself is supposed to be this beautiful, perfect scientific endeavor for all mankind, while actually, it’s just the dark cover-up for doing scientific experiments that are going a bit too far, and using people for things that are non-ethical. And besides that, being treasonous, teaming up with aliens to take over Earth. So, that’s not really healthy.”
If you’re wondering what’s up with all the talk of multiple symbiotes, that’s because Venom will introduce other symbiotes (of various colors!) as it’s loosely based on the Lethal Protector comic book arc. We also fully expect a tease of Carnage to boot, no doubt setting up a sequel.
You can look forward to all of that and more when Venom slithers into cinemas on October 5th.