Sony Pictures released a new trailer for the upcoming Venom on Tuesday and it continues an interesting progression from the man – Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) – in the first teaser to the horror he senses inside of him in the first full trailer to the manifestation of something entirely alien in the latest one: the Venom symbiote. But in the earlier clips, Venom was still a suggestion; appearing only briefly at the end of the first full trailer. This time, he takes a more central role, revealing more of his powers and his full shape. But this latest glimpse at the film also offers more about the world Eddie and Venom inhabit. Here are six things which we noticed almost immediately in the new Venom trailer.
(Photo by Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Right up front, the trailer tells you something important about its place in the Marvel Universe: it has none. After the Sony vanity card, a second one appears declaring the film was made “In association with Marvel.” This card differs from the one Sony used in the Spider-Man days and the one Fox uses for the X-Men films. It is an important statement to make if the film stands alone from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Studios’ almost complete control of the Marvel brand. And while cast and crew often play coy about current Spider-Man Tom Holland making a cameo appearance, the altered Marvel vanity card and the lack of the spider-logo on Venom’s chest make very clear statements about the film’s relationship to Marvel.
Which still leaves us wondering if a Venom film will work without Spider-Man.
(Photo by Sony Pictures Entertainment)
In both trailers, Riz Ahmed’s Dr. Carlton Drake gets plenty of time to expound on his position. But this time, we finally get a clear idea of what he hopes to achieve. As he speechifies in the new trailer, he reveals his belief that mankind is an evolutionary dead end, but for it to survive, it must merge with the symbiotes to become a “higher life form.” Consequently, he exposes human test subjects – possibly some of San Francisco’s most vulnerable inhabitants – to the symbiotes in the hopes of creating something like Venom. And we get the impression the experiment is failing until Eddie breaks into the lab to learn more about the Life Foundation’s latest development.
(Photo by Sony Pictures Entertainment)
Despite being the first apparently successful symbiote infusion, Eddie appears not alone in receiving the very gift Drake is looking to obtain. Besides the un-infused symbiotes we see in the lab, there are quick glimpses of an EMT becoming infused with a light gray symbiote. The alien material turns into an edged weapon and the technician immediately uses it to slice a person’s neck. She also shoots spikes in a subsequent moment.
There is also a glimpse of another fully formed symbiote creature (more on that one in a moment), which means Venom will be facing more of his own kind along the way. Considering there are roughly twenty featured symbiote characters in Marvel Comics lore – and a whole alien race known as the Klyntar — it is possible we will see many more symbiotes taking on humanoid form before the film’s conclusion – even if one particular symbiote is held in reserve for a stinger scene.
But if all the symbiotes take on similar shapes when infused with humans, those features must be natural extensions of the aliens themselves and not a legacy concept from the mind of Peter Parker; whose Spider-Man costume was adapted by the Venom symbiote when they first came in contact. Subsequent symbiotes born of Venom maintained the look as it is one of the coolest designs in comics.
(Photo by Sony Pictures Entertainment)
In many of the trailer’s new moments with Venom, he seems to be operating independently of Eddie despite the “deal” they seem to make in both this trailer and the previous one. During the fight in his apartment, Eddie even tells a goon he’s sorry while Venom tenderizes him. It suggests Eddie will be at odds with the symbiote for a significant portion of the film, which makes sense, as this is a wholly new origin for the characters. Without their common foe, Spider-Man, to unite them, they would naturally be at odds until they find common ground. It is a fairly standard screenwriting formula for the sort of film Venom appears to be from its trailers. But whether that common ground turns out to be mutual understanding or a shared enemy remains to be seen.
(Photo by Sony Pictures Entertainment)
The trailer features two moments with another fully-formed symbiote character. According to reports, this will be Riot, a symbiote grown from Venom by the Life Foundation in the pages of 1993’s Venom Lethal Protector #4. While that symbiote eventually merged with a number of hosts, including Deadpool, it never merged with Life Foundation founder Carlton Drake. In the movie, this appears to be different, as the brief shot in the lab in which Riot creates two scythes from his extremities is juxtaposed against Ahmed, as Drake, saying “giant leaps will always come with a cost.”
It’s all confirmed in the subsequent shot in which both symbiotes try to rip themselves off their respective hosts. Drake can clearly be seen under all the CGI of symbiote goo. Back in the comics, Drake ultimately became a hybrid monster known as Homo Arachnis, but it is unclear if this status will be honored in the film. Perhaps Drake will refer to that term as his ultimate hope for the experiment, with Riot as his “success story.”
(Photo by Sony Pictures Entertainment)
The trailer closes with an extended post-title stinger in which Venom and Eddie scare the guts out of a man holding up a Chinatown liquor store. They discuss how they will eat him and leave him like a turd rolling down the street. They declare “We are Venom” before apparently eating the man. In a quick cut, Venom recedes back into Eddie, who explains himself to the liquor store owner. “Oh, I have a parasite,” he says rather nonchalantly. Either way, he says good night to the owner, Mrs. Chen, and leaves the store. The scene is meant to be funny and suggests the film will have more of a sense of humor than it has shown in its marketing materials up until now. Which is definitely a good thing as a creature like Venom needs a bit of humor about him.
