New ‘Venom’ Trailer Breakdown

Sony has unleashed a new trailer for Venom, and there’s a few interesting things to look at. Here ’tis:

It looks as if they are indeed adapting the “Lethal Protector” series where Venom is the hero/protagonist, and it appears that Spider-Man will make nary an appearance, let alone the Tom Holland version in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This seems to be its own thing, like those odd standalone Fox Marvel movies from a decade ago. Is anyone else getting strong Ghost Rider vibes from this trailer? “I’m the only one who can walk on both worlds; I’m Venom/Blade/Ghost Rider/Constantine.” Here we seem to be getting investigative journalist Eddie Brock uncovering a conspiracy about the suit, manufactured in a lab rather than catapulted from space, and after he steals it wacky hi-jinks ensue, or something. There isn’t much to go on but that big tongue right out of the ’90’s comics at the end looked pretty nice at least!

I have always, always liked Venom and so I’d go into any cinematic appearance of his with high expectations, but this trailer otherwise leaves me a little cold. I don’t know what it is, but several things seem off. Tom (Ed) Hardy is playing the title role, which is ostensibly some kind of version of Eddie Brock by way of Benicio Del Toro. The movie seems to imply his definitive character trait was that he’s an intrepid reporter who wants the truth at any cost, rather than “Big ol’ dude who hates Spider-Man.” In nearly every other version, including the comics, animated series and Raimi movie, Eddie’s defining trait is that he’s completely unscrupulous and kind of a greedy, conniving scumbag. In most versions he fakes some story as a reporter and is fired, blaming Spider-Man instead of himself. In others, such as when he and Peter are childhood friends and he’s a “black mirror” version of Peter, he lacks morals, and his jealousy overwhelms him to the point where putting on the symbiote feeds their mutual hatred. Hence, why he makes such a perfect villain and foil for Web Head.

I get that they’re leaning away from the Spider-Man aspects here, but if that’s the case, it feels like why bother? What we see of Venom’s face looks cool design-wise, but is he even going to have a giant white spider on his chest at all? That to me is one of the best elements of the design that brings it all together, but even minus that, he looks cool because he’s a big black venomous spider, in contrast to the red and blue underoos ol’ Spidey wears that aren’t normally associated with arachnids. We don’t have too much of an idea of how it’ll look on the screen, but there seems to be some misunderstanding of the powers also- can Venom normally shoot giant wads of symbiote out of his arms like that when in Eddie Brock form? It looks like a facsimile of the webbing, which makes me afear that perhaps they’re including NONE of the Spider-Man elements whatsoever- which again, makes no sense because Venom is the anti-Spidey and a dead ringer for a giant poisonous spider himself!

Other things setting off my spidey-sense are the fact that not much from the mythos seems to be followed. It would seem that Michelle Williams is NOT playing Brock’s ex-wife Anne Weying, alias She-Venom, but just a standard love interest. I don’t know if I buy little Riz Ahmed as a major corporate head, and there’s not even a glimpse of Woody Harrelson, to see if he is indeed playing Carnage/Cletus Kassady, the slack-jawed yokel. Jenny Slate is in there for some reason too as a fellow reporter- perhaps Sony is hoping for a big Marvel/Landline crossover? (Ain’t it Cool News talkbackers will get that reference) Note also that the Marvel logo at the beginning has changed to “In Association With Marvel” in ugly blocky lettering, seemingly as a way to definitively distance non-MCU projects from Marvel Studios. I don’t know what’s going on, but something’s amiss with Marvel/Disney and the other studios!

On a general level, this may sound like blasphemy, but I didn’t actually dislike the character portrayal of Venom in Spider-Man 3. Oh sure, the design was utterly ruined since he kept turning back into Topher Grace every other scene, but he looked cool in the thirty seconds of screen time he had! As far as he was written, though, I actually found that version of Venom to be pretty on-point; I’ve never agreed with the Lethal Protector/anti-hero portrayal Sony seems to be leaning into here, as it was ostensibly done by Marvel just to make Venom a lead in his own comic. In Spidey 3, Brock was the evil Mirror-Universe Peter, the kind of creep young Petey might’ve become without the loving hand of May and Ben; the literal flipside of Spidey, all power and no responsibility. That was a great take! He works like gangbusters when he’s a petty, angry man undone by his own avarice and failings who lets his hatred for Peter Parker consume him, just as the symbiote consumes his soul; it’s the perfect counterpoint that makes him the perfect arch-nemesis for our hero. It would be like taking the Joker and making him a crusader for comedian rights who happens to fall in a vat of chemicals in a movie without Batman; I mean, it could work, but we’re missing the point when we take away his evilness and are only left with a cool visual. As always, we shall have to wait and see, but I’m cautiously pessimistic with our first brief look here.

And as long as we’re here, here’s the trailer for Deadpool 2, because why not:

Not too much to say that hasn’t already been said, but we’ll find out what’s good when the movie opens, and if it meets fan expectations or is merely the same gag overdone.