Venom: His Best Versions And Which Would Translate Well To Film

With Spider-Man: Homecoming media saturating the web, the news of a Venom movie has been temporarily taken out of the spotlight. But with more recent rumors regarding Adi Shankar's potential involvement, it raises questions about possible storylines and which direction the studio could head in for the future films. There have been multiple versions of Venom over the years, all with different stories. Starting as an alien costume bound to Spider-Man, his rejection led to the costume bonding with other hosts. This allowed for Venom to take on multiple forms and personalities over the years with a few shared similarities. When it comes to the upcoming spinoff, this provides numerous routes that can be taken in regards to origin, appearance, and identity. But from the character’s past to present, there's quite a bit of source material. With so many choices and so little runtime, which version of Venom would translate best to film? Eddie Brock - Earth 616 The original and first character to serve as Venom was Eddie Brock. After Spider-Man rejected the alien symbiote, it found a depressed, borderline suicidal Eddie and in a mutually beneficial move, bonded with him. He was one of Spider-Man’s most formidable adversaries as he was undetectable by the hero's spider sense. Venom (Brock) was also stronger than Spider-Man despite lacking in speed. By far, these were some of Spider-Man’s greatest battles both physically and mentally. Would this translate well to film? Eddie Brock’s storyline is what initiated Venom’s popularity in the first place. No matter which character became the symbiote’s host, there was always a subplot that tied back to Brock. As such, he has the largest amount of content to pull from, creating a more fluid cinematic universe. Eddie Brock - Ultimate Universe The ultimate universe took a different spin on Eddie Brock and may have been the basis for the abysmal version of the Venom portrayed by Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3. While there was a similar origin for Brock becoming Venom, this Ultimate version of Eddie lacked depth. He had a history with Peter as a child, but his backstory was introduced in an abrupt, dismissive manner. He also lacked the intimidating physical attributes of the the 616 version, which established the speed versus strength element in battle. Would this translate well to film? As stated, we’ve seen a similar version already with Topher Grace’s interpretation of the character. The Ultimate universe carries a lot of potential characters for film adaptation, but this version of Venom was rushed and simply put, just not interesting. I would hope the first Venom film would stay close to original origins, but there’s no certainty in studio decisions. Mac Gargan Formerly known as The Scorpion, Mac Gargan chose to bond with the Venom symbiote after Brock had abandoned the suit. Sharing a hatred for Spider-Man and feeding Gargan’s desire for more power, this version of Venom was the most powerful among all of the other hosts. Given that the suit amplifies pre-existing attributes, the already formidable Scorpion found exponential power. The battles between Spider-Man and this version Venom were on a much larger scale than the Brock battles. Some thought intimacy was sacrificed for extravagance, but Gargan was arguably a worthy alternate to Brock. Would this translate well to film? With Scorpion ceasing to exist in any Spider-Man cinematic universe, this could be difficult to translate to film. Not only would Venom’s powers need to be explained, but so would Mac Gargan’s pre-existing powers. That means there would potentially be two origin stories needed to establish the character, which is definitely not worth the risk. Flash Thompson Peter Parker’s former high school bully joined the military after graduation and lost both his legs in the war. With the alien symbiote now in the possession of the military, they offered a more humbled Flash Thompson a second chance. With the symbiote suit allowing him to walk again, Flash became Agent Venom. Working for the military once more, he would engage in covert missions for them, making Venom a hero rather than a villain. The only stipulation was that he could only wear the suit for short periods, otherwise he could potentially lose control. Would this translate well to film? With Flash Thompson already being established (Tony Revolori) in Spider-Man: Homecoming, the post high school, military story seems unlikely in the near future given everyone’s assumed age. The only way I see this working in the film would be if Thompson’s name was used and an amalgamation of Flash Thompson and Ultimate Eddie Brock was created. Given that Liz Allen is taking on a different role, I could see something similar happening with Flash as well to connect the films. Lee Price The latest character to don the symbiote suit is Lee Price. Much like Flash Thompson, Price was a disabled veteran before he came in contact with the symbiote. Desperate for a host, the suit chose Price and he was able to overcome the symbiote mental influences through intense willpower stemming from military training. Unfortunately, there's nothing particularly unique about Lee Price, and it’s rumored that Eddie Brock may return permanently as the host after the recent preview of Venom #6. Price’s reign as the villain may be very short-lived based on this recent news, leaving him little time to make any sort of significant impact. Would this translate well to film? This would surprisingly be one of the easier translations to film. Lee Price is an outsider which would disconnect him from other characters but allow the film to forgo an in-depth origin and focus on Venom. It would be my last choice for a plot basis, but it's certainly more feasible for a standalone outing. The Venom symbiote has had many hosts throughout the comic books. While multiple characters have bonded with the suit, the ones listed here are the most notable. Whoever the studio decides to choose, hopefully we'll get a storyline that creates a fluid transition for Venom into this new cinematic universe.