Erik Larsen Shares the "Untold Origin" of Venom's Tongue

Have you ever wondered how Venom got that long, creepy, slime-covered tongue?

Well, Savage Dragon creator Erik Larsen -- the first artist to draw the character that way during his run on the Spider-Man titles in the '90s -- shared the story on Facebook.

You can see the full story below, but the gist of it is this: Larsen took over The Amazing Spider-Man shortly after Venom creator Todd McFarlane left, and remembered that Venom's tongue had been visible in a number of McFarlane shots. He decided that what could be fun would be to make that tongue (and the teeth that McFarlane made prevalent) even more monstrous.

The result was...well, you pretty much know. Larsen's Venom is arguably more influential than even McFarlane's aesthetically, and several of the most famous images featuring the character have been covers by Larsen.

The conversation came up again after the trailer for the upcoming movie version of Venom showed off a long, drooling tongue poking through and coiling out of jagged, scary teeth.

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.