Ruben Fleischer’s Venom may not mark the first time that the titular symbiote has been brought to the big screen, but it could be the first time that it’s done right.
Just about every aspect of the Venom saga in 2007’s Spider-Man 3 has drawn the ire of fans, from the miscasting of Topher Grace to the rushed character arc, with Eddie Brock sharing the film’s runtime with two other major villains. But perhaps the most infamous scenes in the whole symbiote saga are those where Peter Parker’s mind has been corrupted by the extraterrestrial organism, bringing out the character’s slightly embarrassing dark side in the form of evil dancing, an emo haircut and a lot of cookie-eating.
Fortunately, the new Venom movie will avoid repeating such awkwardness by removing Spidey from the equation entirely, which also means that the white spider symbol often seen emblazoned on Eddie’s chest as a dark inversion of Peter’s costume will be absent, too. Speaking at the San Diego Comic-Con, Fleischer explained how a different origin story warrants a slightly different character design.
“If you look at the comics, in Venom, there is just elements of white within his suit. Because our character does not originate from Spider-Man, it makes no sense to put a spider on his chest. We tried to be as accurate as we possibly could, even though some people feel it’s inaccurate, but there is a lot of white and we wanted to give him a distinctive pattern.”
To some comic book fans, the character of Venom will always be inherently linked with the webhead. Nonetheless, the director of the upcoming actioner has assured us that with Tom Hardy in the role, Eddie will more than suffice in holding our attention, Parker or no Parker.
“There is more than enough Venom to go around. Venom is a really huge character, and Hardy is an amazing actor, so there is plenty to mine just from Tom’s performance, the character and the world he inhabits.”
We’ll see how Eddie and his symbiote friend manage to carry their own movie when Venom hits theaters on October 5th. In the meantime, look out for a new trailer arriving next week.
