So, here we finally get our first look at Tom Hardy as the supervillain/antihero Venom. As we have seen in a previous reveal trailer, the storyline of the film will be set apart from what fans know in the comics. Rather than receive the alien symbiote from Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Eddie Brock acquires it due to an accident at a research lab where it was taken after being discovered by scientists from the Life Foundation owned by Carlton Drake. From then, he is hunted by soldiers of Life Foundation who want their “product” back. Sony claims that the while the film will be the first in their established “Sony Marvel Universe”, the Venom movie will share the same universe as “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe following a deal made between Sony and Marvel Studios. Could we get a name drop by Spider-Man in “Avengers: Infinity War” or the next film he is featured in? Maybe Venom cold hint at the wall-crawler? Anything is possible.
So far, I like how Venom looks. He nearly matches his comic book counterparts (there have been many versions of him but their designs retain what Todd MacFarlane came up with in 1993). His origin differs from what has been established in the comics, however, the inclusion of the Life Foundation and Carlton Drake will help this along and give a better perspective of where the movie is headed. In the Marvel Comics, Carlton Drake is the leader of the Life Foundation, a survivalist group that was founded during the Cold War. He takes a sample of the “Venom” symbiote to create several versions of it. He creates five new symbiotes using top security personnel: Scream (Donna Diego), Lasher (Ramon Hernandez), Phage (Carl Mach), Agony (Leslie Gesneria) and Riot (Trevor Cole). If you look closely in the trailer, you will see signs of these characters’ existence, particularly Scream. Now, comic fans know that Venom teamed up with Spider-Man to defeat them so could a crossover be possible?
We’ll have to wait and see.
Venom hits theaters October 5, 2018
