Gene Simmons Trolls ‘Venom’ Movie

Gene Simmons is wondering if he’s gonna see any love from the upcoming Venom movie, given that both he and the antihero at the center of the film have a propensity for sticking their long, impressive tongues out in public.

Following a litany of jokes about Venom’s tongue that have flooded social media after the release of the film’s most recent trailer, Simmons went somewhat more minimalist with his gag:

Connecting the two is hardly a new idea: if you do a Google Image search for “Gene Simmons Venom,” there will be dozens of fan-art, joke, and tribute pictures that pop up.

Simmons himself has starred in Marvel comics before: KISS had their own Marvel Comics special years ago, which was famous for the members of the band and Stan Lee contributing a small sample of their blood to the ink.

Venom stars Hardy as Eddie Brock, the original Venom from the Marvel Comics Universe. The film is directed by Ruben Fleischer and is the first installment of Sony’s Marvel Universe, a shared cinematic universe that will also include Silver and Black, a movie featuring Silver Sable and Black Cat, the Morbius movie, and Nightwatch.

Filming on Venom began in October in Atlanta and New York City.

During a panel at Comic Con Experience Brazil, Hardy promised to do the character of Venom justice and to bring lots of action and dark humor to the role. He also confirmed that the film is inspired by the Venom: Lethal Protector miniseries, in which Venom moves to San Francisco in the hopes of finding a normal life but finds himself attacked by the son of someone he killed while he was a supervillain and hunted down by the Life Foundation, a group that wants to study the Venom symbiote for their own purposes.

Riz Ahmed is rumored to be playing Dr. Carlton Drake, the leader of the Life Foundation, in the film. Michelle Williams is playing Anne Weying, Eddie Brock’s wife who later becomes She-Venom. The villain Carnage was also rumored for the film, but no casting has been confirmed.

Venom opens in theaters on October 5th.