The threat issued by Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) that closes out the just-released second Venom trailer comes straight from the pages of an Amazing Spider-Man comic book.
The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #374, scripted by David Michelinie and pencilled by Mark Bagley, sees the web-slinger defend his parents from the psychopathic Venom, who has just escaped federal custody.
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(The Parkers, long believed dead, reunited with adult son Peter just issues earlier. They were later outed as imposter robots created by the Chameleon under the orders of Harry Osborn, the new Green Goblin.) During their battle, Venom vows to “protect” the Parkers from Spider-Man, telling the surprised superhero which body parts he intends to consume.
The symbiote-covered psycho hopes for a similar sick snack in the Venom trailer, where the people-eating creature holds up an enemy, menacingly telling him, “Eyes, lungs, pancreas… so many snacks, so little time,” before using his protruding tongue to lick the face of his terrified meal.
Star Tom Hardy previously confirmed the movie is inspired by Venom: Lethal Protector, a six-issue 1993 miniseries scripted by Michelinie with art by Bagley, Ron Lim, and Sam Delarosa.
That series saw the anti-hero relocate to San Francisco, where he was pursued by a mysterious organization, the Life Foundation, who aimed to acquire the Venom symbiote for their own nefarious means. Brock then clashed with five new symbiotic spawn: Scream, Phage, Riot, Agony, and Lasher.
As revealed by the newest trailer, Riz Ahmed’s shadowy Dr. Carlton Drake will undergo a transformation into Riot, and Scream — whose features include a bundle of wild yellow tendrils — appears to have been spotted in the same trailer.
Director Ruben Fleischer told ComicBook.com during San Diego Comic-Con he wanted to carry over traits Venom is well-known for in the comic books — including the character’s penchant for eating brains.
“Our movie wants to honor the comics as close as we can tonally. In the comics, he bites people’s heads off and eats brains. It would be weird to make a movie with Venom if he wasn’t doing that,” Fleischer said. “We tried to honor it as closely as possible. This is definitely a darker, more violent, more vicious Marvel character than I think anyone’s ever seen before.”
Venom opens October 5.
