As production continues on Sony’s Venom, more plot details are leaking out about the symbiote’s first solo outing. Star Tom Hardy recently confirmed that the movie is based off the 1993 Lethal Protector comic book storyline, as has been rumoured for some time, and now, a second inspiration has been revealed via the film’s director, Ruben Fleischer.
Speaking at the Comic-Con Experience 2017 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Fleischer announced that Venom would not only draw elements from Lethal Protector but also the lesser-known story arc Planet of the Symbiotes. Published in 1995, the original plot sees Eddie Brock team up with former enemy Spider-Man and Peter Parker’s clone Scarlet Spider to find the true killer of a spate of symbiote-related murders that have framed Venom. It’s revealed that the five other symbiotes from Lethal Protector are responsible and the story’s big climax involves the symbiotes building a teleport to their home world, to bring about a symbiote invasion of Earth.
It’s easy to see why Sony would be interested in adapting Planet of the Symbiotes. As we know, Venom is the first in the studio’s intriguing Spider-Man-less universe, which will be built around villains and anti-heroes like Silver Sable, Black Cat and Kraven. So, with Venom disconnected from Spidey’s mythos, it needs to create a mythology of its own – something that exploring various symbiotes, and even their home planet, would definitely do.
However, it’s difficult to say right now how much of the comics storyline will remain in the film. It’s possible that the overt sci-fi element will be jettisoned and the grittier “Venom is framed” angle will be played up. Given that Carnage is thought to be the movie’s main villain, we wouldn’t be surprised if Cletus Kassidy is the ringleader of the other symbiotes and is the mastermind behind this ploy to stitch up Eddie Brock.
Surely whichever way they merge these two storylines, though, Venom will end up a very busy film indeed. Let’s just hope it avoids the pitfalls of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which tried to kickstart a franchise instead of simply being a good movie.
Venom is due to slither into cinemas on October 5th, 2018.