There's nothing stronger than the bond between a man and his parasite. To prepare for Eddie Brock and Venom's last dance, we're taking a look back at the iconic symbiote's debut solo film — and the parts of it that went over everyone's heads the first time around.
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00:00There's nothing stronger than the bond between a man and his parasite. To prepare for Eddie
00:04Brock and Venom's last dance, we're taking a look back at the iconic symbiote's debut
00:09solo film — and the parts of it that went over everyone's heads the first time around.
00:14Venom has hidden secrets to uncover from the very first scene. The opening crash of the
00:19Life Foundation's space shuttle leaves no survivors except for the sample alien life
00:23forms and the one lucky astronaut who finds himself possessed by one of Marvel's symbiotes.
00:28From their control center in San Francisco, CEO Carlton Drake and his team oversee the
00:32wreckage in Malaysia, noting the name of the single surviving astronaut.
00:37That's Jameson.
00:43This quick reference is paid off later in the film's end credits, where we learn that
00:47the character's full name is actually J.J. Jameson III.
00:50In the original Marvel comics, John Jameson is the son of none other than J. Jonah Jameson,
00:56Peter Parker's boss at the Daily Bugle. The younger Jameson is indeed an astronaut and
01:00eventually the Man-Wolf.
01:01While he's not often associated with Venom in the comics, there is one other version
01:06of the symbiote's origin that connects the pair. In the 1994 Spider-Man animated series
01:10three-parter The Alien Costume, it's John Jameson who brings the Venom symbiote to Earth
01:16after a space mission gone wrong.
01:18When the ship crashes, the symbiote escapes, and little does Jameson know, but his adventures
01:22in outer space change the entire course of Spider-Man's life, and serve as the basis
01:27for future Venom origins.
01:30While fans of the Venom Lethal Protector comic series will undoubtedly recognize the Life
01:34Foundation as a major antagonist in that book's initial run, its name in the movie is also
01:39an unintentional reference to one of the more ridiculous fan theories in the history of
01:43the franchise.
01:44Carlton Drake's desire to explore the unknown universe and find lifeforms among the stars
01:49feels awfully reminiscent of the 2017 film Life. This sci-fi horror flick is not connected
01:55to Venom in any official capacity, but there was a time during the film's production when
01:59fans thought it might be a secret prequel.
02:02The fact that a trailer for Life included a shot from Spider-Man 3, along with the premise
02:06of the film being the discovery of a goo-like alien lifeform that starts eating those around
02:11it, caused some to theorize that Life and Venom were connected. Paired with the fact
02:15that Life's screenwriters, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, had previously written a draft
02:19of Venom, the connection seemed obvious. The duo would later joke that Life actually was
02:24an unintentional Venom prequel, but it was all in jest.
02:27Still, that Venom, released just a year after Life, first hit theaters and features a villainous
02:32organization named the Life Foundation seems almost too good to be a coincidence.
02:38When Eddie interviews Carlton Drake early on in Venom, he mentions that Drake, at only
02:4719 years old, had discovered a gene therapy that tripled the life expectancy of those
02:51suffering from pancreatic cancer. It's a small line that establishes Drake's supposedly noble
02:56intentions with his vast wealth and resources, but it also gives Eddie an opportunity to
03:01discuss Drake's questionable experiments.
03:03While Drake began the Life Foundation as a means to reach for the stars, there's no
03:07doubt that he saw the potential in the symbiote's healing properties as well, which can do everything
03:12from resetting and healing broken bones to quite possibly resurrecting the dead.
03:16In the comics, there are quite a few strong connections between the Venom character and
03:20the cure for cancer. In Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man run, a revised origin
03:25for an alternate universe Venom reveals that Peter Parker and Eddie Brock's fathers had
03:29been working together on a cure for cancer when they first developed the symbiote. Likewise,
03:33in the mainstream Marvel universe, there was a period in the early 2000s when Eddie had
03:37cancer himself, which the Venom symbiote apparently fed on in order to increase its power. However,
03:43the 2018 Venom series would retcon that diagnosis as a lie that the symbiote told Eddie to keep
03:48the pair from separating, which might be even more dark.
03:53In the Sony Spider-Man universe, Venom comes from outer space, but in real life, the idea
03:57for the character didn't just fall from the sky. The goopy villain was created by writer
04:01David Michelinie and artist Todd McFarlane and made his debut in late 1987. Venom has
04:07been a consistent foe of the wall-crawler ever since, and even though Peter Parker doesn't
04:12make an appearance in the Venom solo film, the symbiote's creators still get a shout-out.
04:17It's easy to miss, but the law firm that Michelle Williams' Anne Weying gets fired from is called
04:21Michelinie and McFarlane. That's not all, though. There's also a reference to a place
04:26called the Schuller Building during Eddie and Venom's escape from the Life Foundation
04:29security team. But who actually is Schuller? Randy Schuller was a Marvel fan from Illinois
04:35who wrote to the comic company in the early 1980s with an original idea — a black stealth
04:40costume for Spider-Man.
04:42While his concept for the origins for the suit was a bit different than the eventual
04:46alien symbiote angle that Marvel came up with, then-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter paid Schuller
04:51for the idea that eventually became Venom. That said, making the suit its own character
04:55wasn't Schuller's cup of tea. As he wrote for CBR in 2007,
04:59"...I was never a fan of the costume-turned-villain idea."
05:03Venom's taste for human brains is pretty morbid, but he doesn't just like them because
05:08they're chewy. Instead, the symbiote craves a specific chemical component called phenethylamine.
05:13In his first solo movie, Venom is constantly talking about eating people, and he actually
05:17does manage to consume a few heads along the way. But at the end of the film, Eddie makes
05:22Venom swear not to eat any more human beings — or, at the very least, not any of the
05:26good ones.
05:27But how does one tell the difference?
05:28It's super simple. I mean, you just have to, like — you can intuit it, you can sense
05:33it, sometimes you can't even feel it.
05:35Anyone who's seen Venom Let There Be Carnage knows that Venom goes on to replace his cravings
05:40for gray matter with a fanatical love for chocolate. But that's referenced at the end
05:44of the first film as well. Why chocolate? Because the human brain and chocolate both
05:49contain phenethylamine, which can improve one's mood and attention span.
05:53There's comic book precedent for this, too. At the end of the four-part comic arc Venom,
05:57The Hunger, Eddie Brock discovers that Venom can survive just as well off chocolate as
06:01he can human flesh. As Eddie explains in Venom, Sign of the Boss No. 1, it's a bit more socially
06:07acceptable and pleasant.
06:09Throughout all of Venom, the alien symbiote constantly berates Eddie for being a loser.
06:14He's lost his fiancée, he's lost his job, he's lost his apartment, and now with Venom
06:18riding shotgun, he's slowly losing his sanity, too. Venom never wastes an opportunity to
06:23put Eddie down and continually forces him to submit to his will.
06:27However, there's a moment during the film's climax that offers a different perspective
06:31on Venom's behavior. It's no excuse for the constant name-calling, but it seems that Venom's
06:36verbal, well, venom is a direct result of his own inferiority complex within his species.
06:41Unlike Carlton Drake's symbiote, Riot, or even Carnage in the sequel, Venom can't create
06:46physical weapons. Instead, he has to rely on his tendrils or use makeshift shields in
06:51combat.
06:52Riot notes in their final battle that Venom has a strong host, implying that Eddie is
06:56the only reason that Venom can successfully engage in combat with him. It's clear that
07:01on his homeworld, Venom was somewhat subservient to the other symbiotes in charge, and his
07:05decision to leave his people behind and live on Earth instead was never much of a struggle
07:09for him.
07:10Some Marvel comics have characterized Venom as an outcast among his own race, the Klyntar,
07:15which the movies ran with as well.
07:18Stan Lee's movie cameos have long been beloved by fans, and the Marvel Legends appearance
07:22in Venom hit theaters just one month before his death at age 95. While he would sometimes
07:27show up to crack a joke at a hero's expense, he's also been known to offer characters encouragement
07:32at important moments. That's what Eddie Brock gets when he crosses paths with Lee, who seems
07:37to have overheard a conversation he had with Anne.
07:40It's a sweet and funny moment, but wait, how is Lee able to tell that Eddie is hosting
07:53a hidden buddy? It's a bit of a stretch, but it might have something to do with the MCU.
07:58Lee is seen talking to a group of Watchers and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, implying
08:02that he's an informant for the multiversal beings. But the connections to the MCU don't
08:06stop there. Eddie and Venom eventually hop over to the MCU themselves at the end of Venom
08:11Let There Be Carnage, which ties directly into the post-credits scene from Spider-Man
08:15No Way Home. Did sorcery somehow send Stan Lee to Venom's world? Stranger things have
08:20happened in the Marvel multiverse.
08:22When Anne breaks off her engagement with Eddie 15 minutes into Venom, it doesn't come as
08:27a surprise. The way she puts it, he doesn't sound like the greatest fiancé.
08:31You are pathologically self-absorbed, your ego requires constant attention, and you're
08:36stubborn as hell.
08:38Taking back agency in her own life after she loses her job, Anne moves on from Eddie, gets
08:43her own place, starts dating a nice doctor, and finds work elsewhere. But although Eddie
08:47does find his way back into Anne's life, Venom doesn't end with the hero getting the girl
08:51— and that was by design. As Michelle Williams told The Hollywood Reporter,
08:55When we started making Venom, I said to the director, Ruben Fleischer, that I know I can't
08:59exactly wear a Me Too t-shirt, but that's the feeling that I want in this movie.
09:04The star made it clear from the get-go that she wanted Anne to have the type of agency
09:08that other superhero female leads often lack, which no doubt led to Anne becoming She-Venom
09:12for her pivotal role in the third act. She continued,
09:15I just wanted the story to have constant nods to the male-female interplay that is happening
09:20now.
09:21After Venom was released, many fans took to the internet to talk all about Simbrock,
09:26the romantic ship between Eddie and his alien parasite. Among other factors, a certain line
09:30from the film was interpreted by some to be more intimate than threatening.
09:34I am Venom, and you are mine.
09:40It wasn't long before fan fiction and fan art of the pair started making its way online.
09:44Soon after, Sony got wise to the free publicity and recut the Venom trailer in preparation
09:49for the home video release that December. The official rom-com trailer spoofs romantic
09:53comedy cliches from the early 2000s and 2010s.
09:57Fans would react in a similar way to the 2021 sequel, Venom Let There Be Carnage, which
10:01was deemed a breakup movie by audiences. It seems that the third installment, Venom — The
10:06Last Dance, which boasts a tagline of, "'Til Death Do They Part' — will continue to play
10:11on these romantic undertones going forward.
10:14For many, the idea that Venom would get his own feature film entirely independent of Spider-Man
10:19unfathomable. Venom's origins are so distinctly tied to Spidey, after all, that it's hard
10:24to imagine how Eddie Brock and the symbiote could be united without Peter Parker somehow
10:28being involved.
10:29However, the first Venom movie proved that the characters work even better as antiheroes
10:33than they do as villains, even though the studio still calls it Sony's Spider-Man universe.
10:38But if you felt that something was missing from Venom, you weren't alone.
10:42Rumors were circulated online that Tom Holland was present on the Venom set filming a potential
10:46cameo appearance, but director Ruben Fleischer set the record straight. He told IGN,
10:51"...I think we're hoping to build to that, but no, at no point was Tom Holland going
10:55to be in this movie."
10:56Nevertheless, Venom has since connected to both the Spider-Verse series of animated films,
11:01as well as the MCU, with Venom even seeing Holland's Spidey unmasked on television. Whether
11:06a variant of Holland's Spider-Man character exists within the convoluted SSU timeline
11:10or not, the fact remains that Eddie Brock and Venom are doing just fine on their own.
11:15A Spider-Man showdown would be a blast, but Venom has made a name for himself beyond his
11:19web-slinging nemesis.