Sony showed a new trailer of “Venom” at San Diego Comic-Con 2018, and revealed that there’s gonna be a whole bunch of other super-powered alien symbiote creatures other than Venom in the upcoming pseudo-“Spider-Man” spinoff.
The character Venom actually isn’t one person, but two: the human Eddie Brock (played by Tom Hardy) and an alien creature called a symbiote that bonds with him and acts as the black, shape-changing suit he wears. In the Marvel Comics universe from which Venom hails, he’s not the only symbiote out there. And the “Venom” movie is gonna have at least two other named symbiotes and a few others beyond that.
The new footage shown at Comic-Con revealed that Riz Ahmed’s character in the movie, Dr. Carlton Drake, is also Riot, a symbiote character spawned from the Venom alien. There’s another famous villain-slash-alien symbiote spawn showing up in the movie as well: the psychopathic, ruthless villain Carnage, played by Woody Harrelson.
The trailer spends a lot of time with Drake, who is performing experiments with symbiotes by attaching them to people in an effort to make some kind of wacky super-soldiers. In one bit we see a woman who uses her symbiote power to turn her arm into a blade. But the big bad is Drake as Riot. The trailer ended with a hero shot of Venom and Riot fighting one another, before their symbiote suits peel back to reveal Brock and Drake within.
Though the character Venom is usually a Spider-Man villain — in fact, the black symbiote was originally bonded with Peter Parker before it joined with Eddie Brock — “Venom” is a standalone movie. It looks to be treating the character as more of an anti-hero and focusing on Eddie and his experience joining with the symbiote suit to become Venom.
After the first trailer dropped, “Venom” fans were enraged that it didn’t actually show Venom. The second trailer, which was leaked ahead of Sony’s CinemaCon presentation in April, showed Hardy in full Venom mode.
The film, which is not considered a spinoff of the Sony-based “Spider-Man” franchise even though the character originated in the Spider-Man universe for which Sony controls film rights, also stars Jenny Slate and Michelle Williams .
Ruben Fleischer is directing the film, based on a script by Scott Rosenberg (“Jumanji”) and Jeff Pinkner (“The Dark Tower”). Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing with Amy Pascal.
“Venom” is due in theaters October 5.
Spider-Man Movie Villains Ranked, From Venom to The Vulture (Photos)
"Spider-Man: Homecoming" features some of the best Marvel movie villains in both the Spider-Man and MCU movies to date. Here is TheWrap's rankings from the worst to the best.
12. Rhino Paul Giamatti's overdone silly accent + mech suit take on this classic bad guy is the worst Spider villain in what may be the worst "Spider-Man" film. Thanks, but Rhino thanks.
Sony Pictures
11. Venom Long before making his third "Spider-Man" film, Sam Raimi was on the record as not liking this character at all. Sony forced him to include Venom (played by Topher Grace) anyway, which might be why it turned out so bad.
Sony Pictures
10. Electro Jamie Foxx's forgettable portrayal of Max Dillon/Electro in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" was equal parts terrible cgi, terrible performance, and all cheese.
Sony Pictures
9. The Lizard "The Amazing Spider-Man"'s Curt Connors/The Lizard was equal parts bad cgi, bad character design, and a bad take on one of Spidey's most iconic enemies. What a waste of Rhys Ifans.
Sony Pictures
8. Sandman Thomas Haden Church was still hot off his "Sideways" career rejuvenation when he played Flint Marko/Sandman in "Spider-Man 3." He's pretty good... too bad the movie isn't.
Sony Pictures
7. The Tinkerer Michael Chernus played the first-ever movie version of The Tinkerer, seen in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" as one of the Vulture's inner circle. He's the guy who reverse-engineered alien tech and created the Vulture crew's gadgets.
Sony Pictures
6. Harry Osbourne/GreenGoblin Perhaps one of the only saving graces from "The Amazing Spider-Man" duology is Dane Dehaan's Harry Osbourne, who had a much better arc than his predecessor.
Sony Pictures
5. The Shocker "Fargo" star Bokeem Woodbine's grounded portrayal of this "Spider-Man: Homecoming" is an MCU standout.
Sony Pictures
4. Harry Osbourne (James Franco) James Franco's version of Harry Osborn appears in all three Sam Raimi-directed "Spider-Man" movies. He went from being Spidey's best bud to one of the bad guys.
Sony Pictures
3. Green Goblin Willem Dafoe gives an great performance as Norman Osbourne/The Green Goblin in the first "Spider-Man," though the character gets an uneven and incomplete arc, keeping it out of the top 2.
Sony Pictures
2. The Vulture Michael Keaton's performance as Adrian Toomes/The Vulture is not only a fun meta-joke about his Oscar-nominated role in "Birdman," it also finally solved the Marvel Cinematic Universe's so-called villain problem.
Sony Pictures
1. Doctor Octopus Alfred Molina portrayal of Otto Octavius in "Spider-Man 2" remains the gold standard by which all Marvel movie villains are judged by.
Some of the best Marvel movie villains have appeared in ”Spider-Man“ movies
"Spider-Man: Homecoming" features some of the best Marvel movie villains in both the Spider-Man and MCU movies to date. Here is TheWrap's rankings from the worst to the best.