Venom is one of the iconic villains of Spider-Man comics. He is a darker version of Spider-Man, to put it simply. He has all of Spider-Man’s powers and more. The character of Venom previously was tried and tested in Spider-Man 3 directed by Sam Raimi, but it was totally botched up upsetting millions of fans.
Sony is giving a serious shot at getting it right this time, and for that, they have brought a seasoned Tom Hardy to play the lead role. He is no stranger to playing superhero roles as he was Bane in Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight Rises’. He is well-known for undergoing major physical transformations and this will come in handy as he is literally playing 8 ft tall monster.
The movie is an origin story adapting the ‘Lethal Protector’ comic-book storyline from the 1990’s. Tom Hardy is Eddie Brock, a journalist who becomes a hero in San Francisco. Here’s what you should know:
“Before the story begins, Venom makes an agreement with Spider-Man that they will leave each other alone, on the condition that Venom commits no crimes. Venom then moves from New York City to San Francisco and takes up with a group of Californian mole people. Shortly thereafter the father of one of Venom’s victims seeks him out with a group of super-powered mercenaries to take revenge. Spider-Man, seeing misleading coverage of Venom on television, heads to San Francisco to confront him and instead winds up fighting alongside Venom against five new offspring of the Venom Symbiote: Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher, and Agony.”
In this storyline, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man has a very important role, but there is a sort of an understanding between Sony and Marvel that Spider-Man won’t be part of ‘Venomverse’, but nothing is written on stone. Venom and Spider-Man have a long history of being at each others’ throats when Mary Jane was kidnapped, they teamed up against Carnage.
The director was asked about the possible appearance of Spider-Man, he neither confirmed nor denied and said:
“I honestly don’t know what I’m allowed to say…I mean, I know the answer — I’ve seen the movie. But I don’t want to get in trouble for saying something I’m not supposed to.”
This only fuels speculations and theories about Tom Holland’s possible cameo in Venom. Well, Tom Hardy seems pretty excited about the potential Venom trilogy. Here’s what he said:
“I’m open to whatever you want to do with it. We’ve signed up for three of them. So it’s very much an open case. We’ll see what people’s responses are to it. I think it’s an awesome character. I love playing both of them. It’s an amuse-bouche, and for Sony, it’s the Venom-verse launched in isolation, as it were. We all prepped for it to be a standalone universe. So whatever Sony want to attach to it at a later date, it’s a fulcrum piece. But let’s see what happens when it lands”.
The actor Riz Ahmed was also cast to play an important role, he is the founder of Life foundation ‘Dr. Carlton Drake’ who is credited with discovering symbiotes in the first place. Here’s what Riz said:
“No one thinks that they are the bad guy, that’s the reality. People do crazy things, terrible things, but in their mind they justify it. They think that they’re helping the world, helping the other person, helping themselves, they justify it in their own ways. So, for me, when I’m playing a character like Carlton Drake, I’m sure you’ll think I’m crazy but I totally understand what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. He’s trying to serve humanity and he just thinks that he’s best placed to do that and he wants to find a future for the human race. And of course, as the most rich, powerful, successful, intelligent member of the human race, he should be at the center of that future as well. So, I think I’m playing the good guy, but that’s sort of what everyone thinks.”
The director Ruben Fleischer has indicated that the movie could tease plans for a sequel and other spin-offs as part of the larger Venomverse. Here’s what he said:
“We’ve definitely laid some groundwork for different directions that the franchise could go but obviously it all hinges on people’s excitement about this film. I hope people will stay and see what seeds have been planted.”
The movie’s cast is incredibly amazing as it includes actors like Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock aka Venom, Michelle Williams as Ann Weying aka She-Venom, Al-Jaleel Knox as Stoner dude, Scott Haze (not yet known), Jenny Slate as Dora Skirth, Riz Ahmed as Dr. Carlton Drake and Woody Harrelson as Carnage.
The movie is directed by Ruben Fleischer, written by Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner (Dark Tower) and Kelly Marcel (50 Shades of Grey). The producers include Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, and Matt Tolmach. It is going to hit theatres on October 5, 2018.
