Just two days ago on March 6th it was announced that Josh Trank is in talks to direct the
Venom film. This was quite shocking, since everyone assumed it was dead cause it hadn't been mentioned in years. It was first announced soon after Spider-Man 3 was released. It was never confirmed if it would be a Spider-Man 3 spin-off, but I'm going to assume it was. Similar to what X-Men Origins was to the X-Men series.This was before Spider-Man 4 was canned, and then the Venom film went dead. Since Sony had decided to reboot the Spidey series, a Venom spin-off of a now done trilogy would be strange. So we all accepted the fact that Venom won't be heading to the big screen solo.....that changed yesterday. A little backstory will do....
I won't get into
Spidey 3 that much, since all that is covered in my review of the film. Venom made his debut in the live-action world on May 4th, 2007, and was met with backlash from fans. It was quite understandable. Instead of being a larger, monstrous version of Spidey, he was a whiny annoying punk. All the fault lies on Topher Grace, a rather odd choice for the role. In short, Venom was ruined in the film. Too little build-up, nice look though. He just needed to be buffer. So when the Venom spin-off was announced, it was the studio's chance to put a definitive version of Spidey's nemesis on the big screen. The last update was on June 11th, 2010 before the film went dead, until two days ago on March 6th of course. Now I can finally begin talking about the core part of this editorial.
A lot of fans are wondering how this will fit into the timeline. Now that Spidey 4 is dead and the series is getting rebooted, it's quite obvious that it will NOT be part of that trilogy. However, some still think it will be a spin-off of 3, Well, it's not going to be. I am 99.9% sure of that. The Raimi series is finished, there will not be any references to it. Of course, a lot of people speculate that it will be part of the upcoming reboot series. That would make some sense, to try and keep an established franchise. Let's look at this for a second. The Amazing Spider-Man releases in just four months. A sequel will follow in two years. Venom has what looks to be a director, but casting probably won't be announced anytime soon. I don't see this film getting much of anywhere by the time The Amazing Spider-Man 2 releases. Then again, it IS possible that some things will be announced soon after The Amazing Spider-Man releases into theaters, such as a script. The question is will it tie in? Amazing Spidey 2 will most likely have nothing to do with the Symbiote. 3 maybe, but that would be a bit redundant. The point is, if the Symbiote were introduced in that film, Venom will most likely be hinted at. Then what? In 4 he will appear, but where does that leave this film? A director gets practically announced this year, then the film is put off for four more years? Possible, but unlikely. I don't think this will go the Godzilla route. No, you see, I think this will be a complete one-shot with no Eddie Brock. (Or host for that matter.)
In 2003 Daniel Way did a short-lived comic series simply titled Venom. This wasn't your usual Venom story however, there was no host in the beginning. Basically, it was John Carpenter's The Thing for the first couple of issues. I'm serious, the Symbiote was in the Arctic with a bunch of scientists/explorers. And get this, the Symbiote absorbs a dog. I don't know if this was an intentional parody or not. The point is, this would be the most realistic approach to a Venom film. Let's face the facts, Venom as a 'lethal protector' first of all wouldn't translate to screen at all, and second of all, it's just not going to happen. The concept would just get goofy after awhile, like in the comics. Another possible thing would have Eddie Brock get absorbed by the Symbiote in 3, which then leads to his solo film. That doesn't really make much sense, does it? Personally, that possibility is slim. The only real way a 'realistic' way the studio can bring Venom to the big screen is by going the horror route. It shouldn't be about the host, it should be about the Symbiote. I'm not saying it should adapt the Way series, but it's a good starting point on how to go about this project.
If you want to talk villains for a bit, the most realistic approach would be to have the Symbiote as the villain with the humans working their way around it. Now, that's not exactly how I would want it personally, and I doubt Sony would go fully that route of having no one to battle Venom. Enter what is really Venom's only villain: Carnage. Now how would that go about? Cletus Cassidy could fit to be absorbed by the Carnage symbiote, but where would that leave the Venom symbiote? No, I think there should be no 'main' hosts. The way I see it, it could be just a no-name person, then Venom has a form. Like in the Way series, it goes from human to dog to human. The host isn't in control at all, it's the Symbiote using the person, not the other way around. The point is Venom should be a 'different' film. Realistically, Eddie Brock as a lethal protector isn't going to work. It should be a horror story with the Symbiote, and if they could fit Carnage in, all the better. I have been waiting for this for a long time, so it gave me pleasure to write this up. It feels good to talk about a film that is actually most likely going to be happen.
Thanks for reading.