If Avengers: Infinity War is the ultimate superhero movie, then consider Venom to be the ultimate anti-hero movie. When Sony first dropped a trailer for the upcoming film back in February, there were complaints that there wasn't enough of Tom Hardy's Venom actually in it. Thankfully, the latest Venom trailer shares no such problems. Hardy is heavily featured throughout the three-minute clip, both as good guy journalist Eddie Brock and as well as his alien-like alter ego, and it's clear right from the beginning that this isn't your typical hero origin story. Venom wants his human host to release the beast within — and it looks like he's gonna get his wish.
Based on Venom from The Amazing Spider-Man comics, this flesh-crawling parasite is actually an extraterrestrial life form known as a symbiote, which needs to bond with another living life form in order to survive and reach its full potential. Enter poor, unsuspecting Eddie who becomes infected while investigating the mysterious Life Foundation run by Carlton Drake (played by Riz Ahmed). Carlton wants to create a new species where human and symbiote combine into one, indescribable being. It isn't long after one particular visit to the lab when Eddie starts hearing Venom's devious voice inside of his head, controlling his actions and corrupting his mind. At one point, Venom even projects himself out of Eddie's body for a little face-to-face chat with his host. "We can do whatever we want," he tells his human host. From there, things start to get really dark.
One of the most prominent aspects of the trailer that fans are sure to hone in on is the fact that Venom appears to be a cannibal. There are numerous references to him tasting or eating the people he targets. According to CBR.com, Venom did actually eat brains in the comics, particularly in “Venom: The Hunger” #1 by Len Kaminski, Ted Halsted and Scott Koblish. So yeah, looks like those impressive fangs are going to be used more than just intimidating tactics.
Just to give you a taste (heh, get it?) of what to expect throughout the film, Venom's threats to a robber inside a local convenient store give you a pretty good idea: “We will eat both your arms and then both of your legs and then we will eat your face right off your head. You will be this armless, legless, faceless thing, won’t you? Going down the street like a turd in the wind.”
Of course, this isn't the first time Hardy has played a masked comic book figure in the past. He became well known for his, uh, interesting take on Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. From this glimpse alone, though, Venom definitely looks like an even more intriguing character when the movie hits theaters on Oct. 5.
"Eddie, cooperate and you just might survive," Venom teases in the clip. So will Venom's Mr. Hyde beat out Eddie's Dr. Jekyll? You'll just have to head to the theaters this fall to find out one way or the other.
