VENOM: All The Biggest Reveals And Easter Eggs From The Monstrous First Full-Length Trailer
Following the release of the first full-length trailer for Venom, we're taking a closer look at all the biggest reveals from that and what they tell us about this solo adventure for the sinister symbiote.
Late last night, the first full-length trailer was released for Venom. The teaser wasn't well-received by fans and while it's still apparent that we can expect some major departures from the comic books here, it's fair to say Sony has gone some way in redeeming themselves with this effort. After all, there's a lot of great action on display here and the symbiote is portrayed pretty much perfectly for the most part.
We've now taken an in-depth look at the new footage to touch on all the biggest reveals about the story and the ways this movie is homaging the source material with how Eddie Brock is portrayed.
There's a long time to go until October but it looks like Sony is going to put a lot of effort behind promoting this one so we'll no doubt see lots more in the months ahead. For now, to check this list out in full, all you have to do is click on either one of the buttons below. Once you're done that, be sure to share your thoughts on the trailer and everything we've found in it in the comments section.
The Symbiote's Arrival
Forget Spider-Man; this trailer makes it clear once and for all that the symbiotes arrive on Earth via a crashed spaceship or satellite of some sort. In fairness to Sony, that's a heck of a lot easier than trying to explain that the wall-crawler brought it back to Earth with him after visiting The Beyonder's planet but it wouldn't have hurt for there to be some mystery surrounding where exactly it hails from.
This approach is also quite a bit better than what we got in the Ultimate Universe where it was revealed that the symbiote was created by Peter Parker and Eddie Brock's fathers to cure cancer!
Multiple Symbiotes
It's previously been reported that Venom is inspired by the Venom: Lethal Protector comic book series which heavily featured The Life Foundation. It also pitted Eddie Brock against a number of symbiotes and we see here that a number of the aliens were retrieved from the crash site. Whether or not Carnage is among them remains to be seen but there's a very good chance we'll see characters like Scream, Riot, and Agony appear in some form in this movie for Venom to do battle with.
"In Association With..."
Make no mistake about it, this may very well be the most important part of this trailer. While the Marvel Studios logo has always been put in front of movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the standard Marvel logo has accompanied the adaptations released by studios like Sony and Fox.
The key change here is that "In Association With..." has now been added to that and it's hard to say whether this has something to do with Sony's deal with Marvel Studios regarding Spider-Man or something which will become a staple moving forward to differentiate MCU and non-MCU releases.
Ann Weying's Job
As expected, Ann Weying appears to be a lawyer in Venom and it sounds like her firm represents The Life Foundation. There's no mention of a child here and it doesn't seem as if they're ex-husband and ex-wife so that may very well debunk the reports we've heard in regards to their dynamic here.
Eddie Brock: Reporter
In the comic books, Eddie Brock is, of course, a reporter who winds up being fired after Spider-Man exposes him as a fraud. While he's by no means a bad guy there, he is rather dishonest and gets his just desserts when he loses his job (something which ultimately sets him on the path to becoming Venom).
This version of the character definitely seems a little more honest but given the presence of a camera crew when he's interviewing Carlton Drake, he may not be a traditional newspaper reporter. Given the way journalism has changed in recent years, it makes sense that he's a blogger or something similar.
The Life Foundation
Aside from confirming that The Life Foundation is based in San Francisco, this trailer doesn't tell us a whole lot about the company beyond the fact it clearly doesn't have a very good reputation and is rumoured to have kidnapped people in order to do experiments on them. They sound pretty sinister but what's going to separate this group from any other villainous organisation isn't clear.
The Lead Villain And His Plan
Carlton Drake clearly isn't a nice guy and it seems he has some big ideas for how the symbiotes should be used. Believing they're the next stage in human evolution, don't be too surprised if he winds up testing these aliens on himself! After all, once his experiments go wrong and he becomes more and more desperate to put Eddie Brock down and gain the same sort of powers he has, he'll likely do anything.
Unfortunately, everything we've seen of Drake so far points to him being a somewhat generic bad guy so here's hoping the talented Riz Ahmed is able to elevate the material and make a difference here.
Infected
After seemingly breaking into The Life Foundation, Eddie Brock finds himself infected with one of the symbiotes and starts experiencing some seriously weird symptoms. Clearly, the bonding process plays out like a virus and while he attempts to stop it, it seems his efforts will be fruitless...
The Voice
Venom has been portrayed in a lot of different ways over the years. However, the symbiote has frequently been shown as a separate entity of sorts which communicates with Eddie and exerts its will over him. That's something which is clearly going to play out on the big screen too but who is voicing Venom? It certainly doesn't sound like Tom Hardy but seems like a fitting choice for the anti-hero.
Even at the end of the trailer when the two have fully bonded, we hear what sounds like the symbiote's voice rather than a mixture of it and Eddie's. In fairness, I'm just thinking back to how the character was portrayed in the 90s TV series and there's no real right or wrong way to handle this.
The Tendrils
It's been rumoured that the vast majority of Venom will see Eddie Brock unleashing the power of the symbiote via tendrils as opposed to fully suiting up but goes this scene confirm that or just show us his initial reaction to learning that the alien he's bonded with has some unexpected powers? It's hard to say for sure but they do look cool and will clearly factor into a lot of key action scenes.
For example, that shot of Eddie on the bike shows these tendrils coming in handy but here's hoping that final shot of Venom is indicative of what we'll end up seeing for a good chunk of this movie.
"We"
The fact that Eddie starts talking about himself as "we" is a very nice nod to the source material and something it's a relief to see hasn't been ditched here. Considering the fact that the movie's tagline is "We Are Venom," we probably should have suspected this would be the case but you never know with Sony so it's obviously a massive release to have that confirmed with this full-length trailer.
Eddie Brock, Good Guy
As the symbiote attempts to show Eddie who is boss, the journalist tries to make it clear that the only way he's willing for them to work together is if they hurt bad people and no one else. That's got to be a nod to Venom's stint as a Lethal Protector but will Eddie ultimately be swayed by his symbiote's darker nature? I'm thinking it could be hinted at but this movie is probably going to wrap up with him swinging off into the night ready to protect the innocent from the likes of Carlton Drake.
Venom
Well, it's hard to fault this in fairness. While every comic book fan will probably have a preference for how Venom should look, it seems Sony has nailed the character's look here. Eddie seems to increase in size as the symbiote covers him and as well as the massive teeth, he also has the trademark tongue (with a little bit of spit coming off the end in what's a clear nod to the source material).
Venom definitely looks alien and while there are similarities to the version we got in Spider-Man 3, he definitely looks better here and with it clear that the special effects aren't quite finished, we can probably expect his appearance to improve over the next few months as post-production continues.
The Markings
What we don't see here is whether or not Venom has that trademark white symbol on his chest. Then again, as Spider-Man doesn't exist in this world and has no ties to the symbiote, why would he? There does appear to be some white in the costume, so perhaps another pattern can take its place?