It’s no secret that Venom’s theatrical debut in 2007’s Spider-Man 3 wasn’t received well, but luckily, the character not a shot at cinematic glory 11 years later. The Venom movie placed Tom Hardy’s version of Eddie Brock and his symbiote partner squarely in the spotlight, and this time around, Venom was more imposing and frightening. But Venom could have looked much creepier in his solo feature, as evidenced by some concept artwork that’s emerged.
Artist Matt Millard shared some designs he made for Venom approximately four years ago, and as he noted in his tweet, his take on a live-action Venom is inspired by how the character was drawn by Mark Bagley. Take a look!
While Todd McFarlane and David Michelinie created the original version of Venom back in 1988, Mark Bagley created the Ultimate incarnation of the character with Brian Michael Bendis. Rather than the Venom symbiote being an alien creature like in the 616 reality, the symbiote was an artificial “suit” that Peter Parker and Eddie Brock’s fathers designed that was intended to cure diseases and protect the user from all kinds of harm. The Venom movie opted going with the alien origin, though interestingly enough, writers Jeff Pinker and Scott Rosenberg looked to the Ultimate version of Venom for inspiration on how to bring the antihero to life without Spider-Man being involved.
It would have been interesting to see this more Ultimate-looking Venom on the big screen, but Tom Hardy’s version of Venom is definitely intimidating on his own merits, and unlike Topher Grace’s Venom from Spider-Man 3, will go so far as to eat people. Fortunately, Eddie Brock is there to keep his symbiotic partner in check, and while there may come a day when he clashes with Spider-Man, for now, Venom is using powers to keep the innocent safe… even if he does so with a rougher hand compared to your average superhero.
Although the first Venom movie received polarizing critical reception (with most professional critics not caring for it, but building a strong fanbase among general audiences), it performed splendidly at the box office, hauling in over $856 million worldwide. So it’s no wonder Sony Pictures greenlit a sequel, and Venom’s mid-credits scene laid the groundwork for that next adventure by introducing Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady, an imprisoned serial killer Eddie goes to interview. Before that happened, the Eddie/Venom symbiote combo prevented the Riot-possessed Carlton Drake from bringing other symbiotes to Earth.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which arrives on September 24, will see Cletus Kasady bonding with the Carnage symbiote and wreaking havoc alongside Naomi Harris’ Shriek, and only Venom stands in their way. Michelle Williams and Reid Scott are back as Anne Weying and Dan Lewis, respectively, and Stephen Graham plays Detective Mulligan. Learn what other movies will be out before the year is over with our 2021 release schedule.
