After months of secrecy and uncertainty about just what Sony’s Venom might look and feel like on the big screen, the first trailer has finally dropped.
Unsurprisingly, the trailer’s light on plot details, but what it’s chock full of is a brooding, moody Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) reflecting on his life and the briefest of glimpses at the horrific transformation that turns him into the lethal protector. And by brief—we mean brief, as in there are a couple of split seconds where you can see the titular symbiote trapped within a container and later see its black essence spreading through Hardy’s body.
Based on the character created by David Michelinie, Mike Zeck, and Todd McFarlane — and the “Black Suit Spider-Man” costume created by Marvel fan Randy Schueller — the character made his proper debut in 1988’s Amazing Spider-Man #300. His host, Eddie Brock, appeared a little earlier as a disgraced former journalist whose career was ruined when Spider-Man discovered the man Brock accused of being a serial murderer was no such thing. Despondent, Brock eventually came into contact with the alien symbiote Spider-Man recently excised from his own life. With their mutual disgust for the Webhead binding them, they became Venom to torment Spider-Man and his civilian identity of Peter Parker.
The character was a sensation, leading to his own title in 1993 and a slight adjustment as an anti-hero. Over the years, others have become Venom, including Peter’s old high school rival Flash Thompson, who would join the Guardians of the Galaxy as both Venom and an Avenger. Comics are funny that way.
Mind you, this is only a teaser trailer, meaning that a proper trailer (hopefully featuring a fully-Venomized Brock) is likely to drop sooner than later. In the meantime, though, you should mull over whether you’ll be all that hyped when the movie drops on October 5.
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