Despite the title character having his roots in the Spider-Man series, the upcoming Venom movie seems pretty isolated in this era of interconnected blockbusters, with Eddie Brock’s nemesis Peter Parker currently busy saving the universe and getting disintegrated in the MCU. Nonetheless, the new film still has a rich history of comic book storylines and imagery to draw from, and director Ruben Fleischer has assured us that his feature will contain a few subtle nods to the source material.
Speaking to Fandango, the filmmaker said that he’s excited for his work to receive the scrutiny of fans as they pick out the more carefully hidden references.
“I definitely tried to pepper in Easter eggs throughout the film. Some are more obvious than others. I’m excited for fans of the comics to see the movie and try to spot them.”
As a matter of fact, fans have already noticed some of these call-backs thanks to the recent Venom trailer.
“One thing I will say is that, you know, at least was really gratifying for me, is when the trailer came out, people recognized frames that were taken directly from the comics that we tried to recreate in the movie. That was really gratifying to me to see that people appreciated that we literally lifted iconic frames from the Venom comic book and put them in the movie.”
Fleisher was especially pleased with the response to one particular slice of dialogue, saying:
“Even a line that’s featured in the trailer: ‘Eyes, lungs, pancreas. So many snacks, so little time,’ is directly taken from the comics,” Fleischer said. “It was exciting to me that people recognized that and appreciated that.”
Not only will the new Venom movie contain references to the property’s past, but it will likely also include some nods to the franchise’s future. As the first installment of Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters, it’s to be expected that the film will sow the seeds for a spinoff or two, perhaps in the confirmed post-credits sequence.
But before we think too hard about what’s to come in the future, it remains to be seen whether Fleisher can do justice to the comic book stories that came before his movie. And we’ll find out how he gets on when Venom hits theaters on October 5th.
