Things you do not know about Venom

Venom. Artwork by Mark Bagley

Let us hope that Tom Hardy can do justice in portraying dual roles of Eddie Brock and Venom in this highly anticipated movie for Venom which will finally be released.

For those who do not know the origin story of Venom in The Amazing Spider-Man comics, here is a quick fact. Eddie Brock was the second host to the alien symbiote that would transform him into Venom.

Venom is one of the most fearsome and formidable villains that Spider-Man ever faced and even way back then in the early 90’s when I was already collecting Marvel comic books such as The Amazing Spider-Man, he was a very popular character even though he was essentially the main archenemy of Spider-Man in those years of the web slinger’s life.

As time went on, Eddie Brock would learn of the secret identity of Spider-Man. Yet he never revealed it to the general public.

Eddie Brock’s jealousy of Peter Parker’s success as the chief photographer for The Daily Bugle drove him to do some wild, demented, and crazy things to Peter Parker. And the most extreme and unforgivable act he did as Venom was when he kidnapped the parents of Peter Parker and held them hostage.

Venom and Spider-Man would frequently clash and fight each other to the point that one would end up unconscious or near to the point of death. Although it was often Spider-Man who would find himself knocked out and at the losing end of their hard fought battles, Venom would never end up killing Spider-Man.

The alien symbiote which was the reason that Spider-Man had a black costume in the late 80’s never revealed its true hidden powers until it latched on Eddie Brock.

Once the alien symbiote found its new host in Eddie Brock, it fed on the hate and envy Eddie Brock had towards Spider-Man. Eddie Brock became the perfect host for the alien symbiote, and they merged together and the result was a monster.

Everything that was bad about Eddie Brock was intensified to the Nth level that it would make extreme changes in the physical form of Eddie Brock each time he would transform into Venom.

Venom. Artwork by Mark Bagley

Venom is shown to possess a level of superhuman strength that even Spider-Man is not capable of doing. For instance, he once flipped over a bus at Spider-Man. Spider-Man was about half as strong as Venom was.

When Eddie Brock became the host of the alien symbiote, it never detached itself from him. Unlike Peter Parker who could remove the alien symbiote because it took form of a costume, just like the regular red and blue Spider-Man costume that Peter Parker always wears, in the case of Eddie Brock, however, the alien symbiote permanently attached itself to him, Eddie Brock could transform to Venom instantly, at his own will.

Venom, before earning the classification of anti-hero, Venom was first and foremost a supervillain. Even when he eventually went to the side of good, he did not drop all of his former tactics. The fact that he is capable of killing his enemies intentionally or “accidentally” proves that he is a every bit as dangerous as he once was when he was still the nemesis of Spider-Man.

The only difference now? Venom kills bad guys.

Venom shares a few major similarities with another famed Marvel anti-hero, Deadpool. For one, they both started off as supervillains. Secondly, both are psychopaths; there is no questioning that. Thirdly, both became famous in the early 90′ and their popularity since that decade never waned which would lead both Marvel comic book characters to eventually have their own solo movies made under the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

That is why for many longtime fans of the comic book character like myself, to have Venom finally appear in his own movie is a long time coming.

Venom. Artwork by Mark Bagley

Let us just hope they do not veer away too much from the Venom we knew in the Marvel comic books of the early 90’s because the one that appeared in Spider-Man 3 was a joke! Even the actor who portrayed Eddie Brock was not convincing at all and to have Venom appear as an “extra villain” for that movie was wrong because obviously, the producers and director of that movie did not realize how important this comic book character was and still is in the world of Spider-Man.

When Venom finally hits cinemas, do not expect this to be a thrill-ride of a movie because this will be a dark, violent, and intense movie. Most likely, this will get an R-rating–even with any last minute editing done–because if the producers and director want this to be faithful to the Marvel comic books wherein Venom first appeared, then for all intents and purposes, it can’t be PG.

Venom is targeted for mature audiences.