Backlash to the new Venom teaser came because it didn't show off the Symbiote proper, but apart from the fact that it was a smart decision on Sony's behalf (why show off the monster in a first look?), it's also clear that, with the film leaning on the source-material so heavily, Venom is going to look like Venom.
That might sound like the bare minimum, but remember, Topher Grace's Brock still manages to linger even eleven years on from his debut, and he was the most un-Venom like thing ever.
It's unclear how Ruben Fleishcer's film will depict the title character onscreen, with a mixture of practical and computer-generated effects a likely choice, but fans won't pass on the opportunity to see a more faithful Symbiote regardless.
At the end of the day, the Venom film is still going to have Venom. He's both the hero and monster of the flick though, and to give that away early on wouldn't make that much sense at all.
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.
