Who Could Riz Ahmed Possibly Be Playing in Venom?

While many details of the Venom movie remain a mystery one thing we do know about the Spider-Man spinoff flick is that its cast is shaping up nicely. We already knew that Tom Hardy had been cast as Eddie Brock and now Riz Ahmed is joining the cast, but who he’s playing is unclear.

While early reports indicated that the Rogue One star would be taking up the villain Carnage, THR reports that Ahmed is now up for a different part as changes have been made to the script. With Venom taking place in a shared universe with other Spider-Man characters and Carnage seemingly off the table, who might the mystery character be?

Kraven the Hunter

One significant possibility for Ahmed’s role is Kraven the Hunter. With reports suggesting that Sony wanting to develop spin-offs for both Kraven and Mysterio it’s possible that Kraven might find a home in Venom and it might be an excellent fit. Kraven is one of Spider-Man’s best bad guys. Introduced by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1964, Kraven viewed Spider-Man as the pinnacle of prey and dedicated his life to catching him to solidify his own reputation as a hunter.

While Kraven doesn’t fit reports that Ahmed will be playing a “popular” character, he does fit into Sony’s vision of bringing villains not ordinarily seen in Spider-Man movies to the screen. There’s another possible benefit of Ahmed playing the hunter in Venom: it creates a small connection between Kraven and the larger MCU, potentially opening the door further Kraven appearances.

The Chameleon

The Chameleon is the definition of classic Spider-Man villains having been introduced in 1963’s The Amazing Spider-Man #1, but the identity-shifting bad guy has yet to appear on a movie screen. In comic history, the Chameleon originally didn’t have special super powers and relied on elaborate costumes, makeup and other skills to change his appearance and impersonate his targets.

Like Kraven, the Chameleon doesn’t fit the “popular” character mold, but given the complexity of a character whose skill is impersonation and manipulation, Ahmed taking on the role would be an excellent use of the Emmy-nominated The Night Of actor’s talents. And even better? In comics The Chameleon is the half-brother of Kraven the Hunter so bringing in either character could open the door for the other.

Norman Osborn

Norman Osborn, aka Green Goblin, has long been a popular go-to villain in the Spider-Man universe. Osborn was the primary antagonist for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and has appeared 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as well. Casting Ahmed as Osborn would be a shift from the idea of casting lesser-known villains for Venom and other spin-offs, but the character is so recognizable as part of Peter Parker’s story that bringing Green Goblin in would provide an opportunity for the film to potentially connect with Spider-Man in future films. 

Ben Reilly

In comics Ben Reilly, also known as Scarlet Spider, was the first successful clone of Peter Parker and actually believed himself to be the real Peter when they first encountered each other. Casting Ahmed as Reilly would be a little bit of a surprise, but with Kevin Feige having confirmed that Spider-Man will not appear in Venom, bringing in Scarlet Spider would provide the opportunity for a variation of a Venom-Spider face-off especially if the character is utilized as a surrogate for the friendly neighborhood webslinger himself.