Although the lack of a white spider on the front of the symbiote initially had longtime fans of the character frustrated, now that the Venom movie has released, it's fair to say that its inclusion (or lack thereof) was pretty inconsequential.
Because yes, though the spider is certainly iconic, it's not exactly essential. Further still, there's no reason for this version of Venom to have it, as he hasn't encountered Peter Parker, Spider-Man, or even broached the 'Alien Costume saga' from the comics.
Regardless, the design for Venom works well on screen (tongue and all), even if it does take a while for the film to use it regularly.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
