VENOM Trailer

Venom is primarily known as an antagonist to Spider-Man, meaning yes, he is a Marvel property, but no, this movie is not part of the MCU. Like Spider-Man and the X-Men, the film rights for Venom had been sold before the MCU began, so this movie is part of Sony’s Spider-Man universe, which does technically overlap with the MCU and frankly makes the whole thing very confusing. From what we’ve seen, though, Venom will likely be rather self-contained, with no preexisting film characters making a major appearance.

That means the film is riding on Hardy and the intrigue around his character, which still gives Venom a lot to explore. The trailer makes it out to be another origin story, and given how little people know about symbiotes, audiences will probably need an explanation. Hardy himself should be up to the challenge of playing the reluctant superhero as he’s gone against his hulking body before. That, and he already got his feet wet in the genre with The Dark Knight Rises.

Directing this project is none other than Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer, who hasn’t managed to replicate the success of that feature, but still engenders some hope. This had the potential to be a standalone, distinct superhero film à la Logan, and Fleischer has brought a fresh take to a tired genre before.

Science note: Given the speculation, I want to say that Jenny Slate does pronounce ‘symbiote’ correctly in this trailer. There are two accepted pronunciations of the word, and she is doing one of them. My proof is that I have a biology degree, which I’m sure is a statement that will convince no one.

Venom is directed by Ruben Fleischer and stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, and Riz Ahmed. It will be released in the US and the UK on October 5th, 2018. For international release dates, click here.

What makes you excited for Venom? Let us know in the comments!