With superhero movies and major franchises proving the most profitable genre in filmmaking, every studio is trying to get in on the action. For Sony, this includes its still infant Spider-Man universe, which will be largely disconnected from the MCU, and the famous wall crawler. The first of these movies is Ruben Fleischer's Venom, starring Tom Hardy as the title character. Comic book creator and artist Todd McFarlane created the symbiote, and seems thoroughly jazzed about the movie's upcoming release. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't tweak Venom's look if he could. McFarlane recently posted a Facebook video showing what changed he'd make to Venom's CGI rendering, and its thoroughly delightful. I mean, just listen to his sound affects.
It's Todd McFarlane's type of childlike wonder that so represents the comic fandom. It's a community that has filled endless halls and convention centers, and what keeps the genre so viable over the years. But as so many comic fans feel about big screen adaptions, McFarlane has ideas for how Venom could be closer to the source material.
Todd McFarlane's video shows the writer and illustrator editing a shot from the upcoming Venom movie, in an attempt to make the fan favorite symbiote creature closer to his original rendering. McFarlane does this with a few details, primarily Venom's eyes. First he extends the tip of the large white eyes, therefore putting them a bit closer together. This was a purposeful choice by McFarland when he was creating the character, believing that it made Venom more animal-like and scary. He also changed the overall shape, extending the eyes into half moons. This allowed for more overall black in the character's face, and transforming Venom's appearance in just a few short strokes.
Aside from Venom's eyes, Todd McFarlane also changed how the character's mouth was rendered. He prefers less of a smile from the symbiote character, therefore hiding some of his rows of teeth. If you can't watch the full video, here's more of what the writer had to say.
The eyes come down like this, and I think they come too close to each other... So it looks a little bit like he's looking toward the center of his nose. As you guys remember, I did the eyes so you got a little bit more black. You've got a little too much of the smile. I would curve the teeth back just a little bit more, so just sort of like our own teeth they would go back just a little bit more. Then they start to curve so eventually you wouldn't seem some of the ones back in here. And then I'd make it so that all the teeth sort of aren't really the same size. I'd shorten some of them... And that's it, not much, I think it looks really cool.
Todd McFarlane mostly thinks Venom's appearance works, and he is admittedly excited about his character's upcoming live-action solo film. Actor/director Elizabeth Banks threw some shade Venom's way when the character's first appearance was revealed in the full trailer. She claimed Venom's tongue looked strangely phallic, and essentially broke the internet with just one tweet as other famous figures responded and riffed off her joke.
The pressure is on for Ruben Fleischer to deliver with Venom, and hopefully herald Sony's Spider-Verse and a new franchise for Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, and the rest of the cast. The trailers and first looks have been met with varying levels of success, so we'll just have to wait and see what the final product looks like.
Venom will arrive in theaters on October 5, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
