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| “ | I want him dead, too, Flint. That's why I've been looking for you. Oh yeah, I know all about you, like the fact that Spider-Man won't let you help your poor daughter. It's just... that doesn't seem right to me. Look, I wanna kill the Spider, you wanna kill the Spider. Together, he doesn't stand a chance. Interested? |
„ |
| ~ Venom striking Sandman with a deal.
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| “ | Never wound what you can't kill. | „ |
| ~ Venom taunting a tied up Spider-Man as he tortures him.
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| “ | I like being bad. It makes me happy. | „ |
| ~ Venom telling Spider-Man that he enjoys his villainy, and his most famous quote.
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Edward "Eddie" Brock Jr., later known as Venom, is the main antagonist of the 2007 superhero film Spider-Man 3, the third and final installment of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and the main protagonist of its tie-in comic book Spider-Man 3: The Black.
He was a former freelance photographer and Peter Parker/Spider-Man's enemy at the Daily Bugle who, after bonding with the symbiote, turned into an unhinged, sadistic and monstrous mutant known as Venom, equipped with the same suit and powers of Spider-Man. This, alongside his personality, makes him Peter Parker/Spider-Man's arch-rival, as well as his evil counterpart.
He was portrayed by Topher Grace, who also played Edwin in Predators, Adrian Yates in American Ultra and David Duke in BlacKKKlansman.
Biography[]
Spider-Man 3[]
NOTE: The canon tie-in comic Spider-Man 3: The Black is a midquel set between the moment Spider-Man removed the Symbiote and the final battle. Because of this, events from the comic are written in italics.
Early Life[]
At some point during his life, he met and dated Gwen Stacy. He was also an avid photographer, having worked freelance at The Daily Bugle.
Daily Bugle Freelance[]
Spider-Man's Early Years[]
During Spider-Man's origins and first year as a vigilante, J. Jonah Jameson declared his opinion on Spider-Man as a menace to the public, however, he only did this knowing how much papers it would sell. However, he hadn't gotten a decent picture of Spider-Man yet. Eddie was tasked with finding a picture of the vigilante, but couldn't get a clear view of him. Joseph Robertson relayed this information onto Jameson.
Spider-Man No More[]
A few years later, Eddie Brock took a picture of Spider-Man's abandoned suit, and was credited on the respective newspaper.
Crane Accident[]
Eddie Brock was present during the crane accident that occurred. As the police showed up, Eddie took a widened shot of the event, and noticed Gwen Stacy holding on to the side of the building. Even though he knew Gwen had a modelling gig, he was surprised at what he saw. Brock pointed it out, and confused Captain George Stacy, who was Gwen's father. George took the camera and noticed Gwen. Still not knowing who he was, Brock introduced himself, telling him he was dating Gwen.
He witnessed Spider-Man coming in, and saving Gwen. He then met Spider-Man, whom he took photos of, and introduced himself. When Spider-Man inquired about Peter Parker, Brock responded that he was an amateur and he was the new guy, and revealed he thought the pictures were quite chunky and bloated. Spider-Man then left the scene, with Brock telling him he didn't have to worry about that stuff anymore.
Rivalry with Peter Parker[]
Meeting J. Jonah Jameson[]
After securing the photos of Spider-Man, Eddie Brock then decided to turn these in to J. Jonah Jameson. While there, he noticed the receptionist Betty Brant, and made an attempt to flirt with her, despite her clearly not interested. Following this, he noticed Jameson yelling at Ted Hoffman for his pitch, and quickly seized the opportunity to walk into his office, with Brant telling him not to. Despite having met him last week he was still confused to who he was, so Brock introduced himself. He then submitted his photos, before Peter walked in with his photos. After further inspection, Jameson and Robbie Robertson agreed that Brock's was better, and Jameson promised him 50 bucks.
Brock then revealed his intention of getting married and having a staff job, with Peter getting agitated as it should be him to have the staff job, being there longer. Jameson then revealed that whoever could prove Spider-Man doing something evil, they would get the job. While leaving, Peter told Brock he would never get that picture, with Brock telling him they'll see.
Spider-Man Festival[]
Some point later during the Spider-Man festival, Eddie talked to Gwen, and took pictures of her, before Gwen told him she had to leave to practice for her speech she was going to give. Eddie asked if he could see her that same night, which Gwen said she couldn't. Eddie asked why, reminding her of a date that they had, before Gwen reminded him they had coffee and that it was not a date. Brock was also present when the criminal known as the Sandman floated across.
Bank Robbery[]
A few days later, Brock caught Spider-Man, now sporting a black suit, lifting the entrance to the subway tunnels infront of a robbed bank. Brock, believing Spider-Man was responsible for the robbery, took pictures of Spider-Man, asking for him to give a pose. However, Spider-Man instead swung the camera Brock was using, breaking the camera, and saying goodbye to him. Brock then decided to take pictures of the robbed bank with his spare camera, and frame Spider-Man responsible just as soon as the police showed up.
Daily Bugle Career[]
Framing Spider-Man and Confrontation with Peter Parker[]
After taking the pictures of the bank, Eddie edited a picture of Spider-Man onto it, holding a bag of money, and editing the suit to be black. He then turned this fake picture into the Bugle, and led them to believe the fake was real. They used the picture in their newspaper, along with Brock getting the staff job as their photographer. After getting the job, Brock and fellow employees celebrated with a drink. Brock hung up the picture, joking with an employee that they needed more wall space. As he hung up the picture of the newspaper, he saw Peter Parker's reflection. He then greeted Parker, telling Parker he proved him wrong. Parker, under the influence of the alien symbiotic costume, then sarcastically congratulated him, with Brock replying he had to see things as it is. Parker then told him he had seen the picture before. Brock dismissed Peter and went, back to work, but Peter insulted him and showed him the proof.
Eddie then called Parker a boy scout and asked if he would give him a break, before Peter pushed him against the wall, breaking the frame the fake picture was being held in, so loudly it caught the attention of everyone there. Peter then told him that if he wanted forgiveness, he should get religion. When Robbie asked about what was going on and Betty asked if they were alright, Brock lied about them horsing around. He then begged Parker to not expose his fraud because he would lose everything as there won't be any newspaper that will hire him, but Peter tells Brock he should've thought of that earlier. Peter gave the forged photos to Robbie and Betty to show it to the editor, along with telling Robbie to tell the editor to check his source next time.
Fired[]
| “ | Jonah Jameson: Pack your things. Get out of my building. Eddie Brock: I was just... Jonah Jameson: YOU'RE FIRED!! |
„ |
| ~ Jameson fires Eddie Brock. |
Eventually, with some confirmation that the picture was a fake, a furious Jameson told Brock to pack his things and leave the building. When Brock tried to justify, himself, Jameson then yelled that he was fired. While leaving, he overheard Jameson and Robbie talking about printing a retraction, which Jameson hadn't done in 20 years. The new article from the Bugle deemed Brock as "faker", which humiliated him and blacklisted him and he unjustly blamed Peter for it, despite the fact that it was really his own fault for cheating his way into a promotion and trying to frame Spider man as a criminal.
Bonding with Venom[]
Meeting Venom[]
A few days later, Brock noticed Gwen and Peter walking towards a nightclub. Already enraged at Peter for making him lose his job, Brock's feelings for him only got worse. The same night, Brock decided to pray in church. After putting religious water on his forehead, he sat down on one of the pews. He then prayed to God, begging for him to kill Peter Parker. While praying, Brock then noticed the church bells ringing continuously, as well as someone screaming.
Brock then headed to the bell tower, and noticed someone higher up. Brock then realized it was Peter Parker, who was attempted to get rid of the black symbiotic costume when he realized it was slowly changing him for the worse. Eddie looked on, shocked, when a piece of the symbiote was taken off from Peter's black suit, Brock took his jacket off to prevent the piece from crawling on him. He deduced Peter was in fact Spider-Man as the latter ripped the symbiote of himself and crawled down towards Eddie, having sensed his rage and hatred towards Peter. Eventually, all of the black symbiote was carried onto Eddie, aggressively bonding to him. Brock was initially confused, screaming as it bonded with him. However, he soon smiled, realizing he could use this to kill Peter.
Getting Used to the Symbiote[]
After bonding with the suit, Eddie slowly got used to the alien symbiote. At first driven mad by the alien's attempts to communicate with him, he attacked several teenagers in his lunacy and attracted the attention of some police officers. After fighting them off, he finally allowed the symbiote to communicate with him, and it sent images of Parker's life and role as Spider-Man to Eddie, due to it copying the previous host's memories. This confirmed Eddie's suspicions that Parker was Spider-Man. By tapping into the symbiote's memories of Spider-Man, Venom was able to replicate his abilities of web production, wall-crawling, and super strength.
Realizing that he could use the symbiote in his desire to get back at Spider-Man for his humiliation, as he found out that the symbiote also wanted revenge on Spider-Man for rejecting it. He sneaked over to the Stacy apartment and watched Gwen through a window. After she left the room, he broke in to look at Captain Stacy's files, and found Flint Marko's file, inspiring him to choose him as a potential ally.
Allying with Sandman[]
Brock, using the new symbiote capabilities, then decided to swing around the city, trying to find Flint Marko, otherwise known as the Sandman. Flint, initially believing he was Spider-Man, attacked him, before Brock revealed he was also an enemy of Spider-Man. Brock revealed that through the symbiote's knowledge he knew a lot about Flint and how Spider-Man wouldn't let him save his daughter. He asked Flint if he was interested in working together, which he agreed to.
Kidnapping Mary Jane Watson[]
Knowing about Peter's relationship with Mary Jane Watson, Eddie decided to kidnap her to lure Peter in. He disguised himself as a taxi driver, which MJ decided to hitch. As she got in, Brock asked where she wanted to go, before revealing his symbiote form and kidnapping her. He then decided to make giant web at a construction site, making a lettering reading: "SPIDER-MAN, STOP US IF YOU CAN." Eddie tormented Mary Jane by saying Peter didn't love her, in order to scare her, but Mary Jane didn't fall for it, until Sandman told him to stop. Eddie sensed Spider-Man's presence coming up, as the symbiote was able to track Spider-Man, due to it bonding to him previously.
Battle at the Construction Site[]
| “ | Spider-Man: Eddie, the suit. You gotta take it off! Venom: Oh you like that, wouldn't you? Spider-Man: I know what it feels like: It feels good. The power. Everything. But you'll lose yourself. Let it go. Venom: I like being bad. It makes me happy. |
„ |
| ~ Venom refuses to listen to Spider-Man in regards to the symbiote's powers. |
Eventually, Spider-Man joined the battle, swooping in. However, as soon as he saw MJ, Eddie attacked him. He then mocked Peter, grabbing MJ and kicked him away. Eventually, he webbed Peter up and jumped on him. When Peter suggested another way instead of fighting, Eddie then decided on humiliating him. He eventually explained that he took his girlfriend, so he would make him lose his. As soon as he was about to attack Parker, MJ threw a brick on his head, distracting Eddie. This gave Peter time to break free and attack him. After, they both fell down the construction site, attacking each other.
Eventually, as Peter fought Sandman, Eddie webbed him up, allowing Sandman to hit Peter, until Harry Osborn showed up. Harry then fought Eddie, kicking him back, allowing him to help Peter get back on his feet. Eddie then jumped on to Peter, but Harry then swung Peter and he was able to hit Eddie. After Peter and Harry took care of Sandman, Eddie webbed Peter up and landed some attacks on him. He then told Peter to not wound what he couldn't kill. Despite Peter's warnings about the dangers of the Venom symbiote and pleading with him to take it off, Eddie decided to keep it, having enjoyed his villainy.
Death[]
However, Venom was about to kill Spider-Man by impaling him with a rebar, Harry showed up throwing razor bats at Venom's arms, infuriating him. Harry attempted to impale Venom with his glider, but Venom attacked him, taking his glider. He then decided to use the glider's blades to kill Peter, but Harry jumped in the way, rescuing Peter but dying in the process. As some metal pipes fell. Peter, completely enraged at Eddie for killing Harry, uses two pipes to keep Venom still, using the loud vibrations to weaken the alien, as it and Brock scream in pain, before assembling a lot more metal bars around Venom, making them very loud enough to make the goo fall apart from Brock. After seeing Eddie being de-attached from the suit screaming, Peter used his web on Eddie, pulling him out of the symbiote and finally separating them both.
As Eddie got out, the symbiote grew more and attempted to angrily kill Peter, causing Peter who is still a lot more enraged to make more noise, to keep the monster away as it screams in pain again. Peter then grabbed a pumpkin bomb from Harry's glider to destroy the symbiote. However, Eddie realized what Peter was doing and wanted to re-bond with the symbiote as it made him powerful, so he stupidly jumped towards the symbiote, trying to stop it. Peter, horrified by this, rushed to save Eddie, but as soon as he did, the bomb exploded, killing both Eddie and the symbiote and putting an end to their reign of terror forever.
Legacy[]
| “ | Yeah, I fought a... an alien made out of black goo once. | „ |
| ~ Raimiverse Peter mentioning Venom. |
Although Venom didn't come back from Doctor Strange's botched spell moments before his death in Earth-96283, he is mentioned when MCU Peter Parker asked what were some of the strangest villains his fellow counterparts had faced, Raimiverse Peter Parker cited his battle with him having fought an "Alien made of out of black goo", referring to his battle with Venom as his strangest villain encounter.
Personality[]
While he appears to be a perfect counterpart to Peter Parker, well-dressed and looks super confident, and problem free, Eddie Brock is no saint. He thinks of himself as better than Peter, will do anything such as doctoring photos to get Jameson's attention and cheat his way into a promotion. The biggest downside is that he doesn't consider himself guilty; inside, he is rotten to the core, thinks of himself as a ladies' man, as well as being a glory hound and mistakenly believes that he has a right to it. He's also arrogant, as he believed that he might just get off scot-free for publishing fake photos to slander Spider-Man, when he was completely guilty of committing the crime of forgery and slander, which made his offense petty and unfounded.
He also displayed no real care for Gwen, as he photographed her clinging to her life on a building, and was briefly seen flirting with Jameson's assistant, Betty Brant. Upon capturing Mary Jane in The Black, he made a sick joke to Sandman that they should flip a coin over whom he should kill in front of the other once Spider-Man arrives. Even Sandman was disgusted by this and told him to put her back in the cab and stick to their plan. He'd also make jokes to Spider-Man about his perverted feeling towards Mary Jane with his line "my spider sense is tingling" which Mary Jane finds very disturbing.
Overall, Eddie is corrupt, immoral, dishonest, and incapable of change beyond redemption despite being a Catholic (which was actually just a lie he made up, as heavily implied by multiple theories by fans that he only goes to the cathedral, just to, in a rather sacrilegious manner, insult God’s teachings there).
Unlike most villains in the Spider-Man trilogy, there is nothing redeemable about Eddie’s mentality; he was willing to do anything to get what he wants, no matter who got hurt in the process, and, after bonding with the Symbiote, killed multiple people without remorse. In fact, when he was about to kill Peter, he told him "I like being bad, it makes me happy", which further suggests that Eddie may indeed be a psychopath
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Symbiotic Suit: He obtains the Venom symbiotic suit from Peter Parker (albeit accidentally) that enhances the following below:
- Superhuman Strength: After how he gets venom symbiote he gets very high strength which is what make him very hard to fight at first.
- Superhuman Speed: He turn very fast, what make him more harder to fight because he can run very fast and attack very fast what make it very dangerous.
- Superhuman Durability: He gets superhuman durability, what make him more stronger and good at fighting.
- Superhuman Agility: This make him much faster and stronger in going from one place to another, which is what also makes him very good in fighting.
- Superhuman Stamina: This also make hims much stronger, faster and harder to fight.
- Superhuman Reflexes: He's reflexes upgraded to much, what do so he can hear his victims when they attack.
- Organic Webbing Generation: He can generate webs from his hands, like how Peter does.
- Superhuman Senses: He can detect someone else's thoughts and/or feelings.
- Wall-Climbing: He can walk onto any surface with all of his limbs, which also helps him from not falling onto any low-positioned surface.
- Accelerated Healing Factor: When he gets physically harmed, he can also regenerate those injuries of his.
- Spider-Sense Immunity: His own thoughts and feelings are shielded from being detected by any other telepathic being.
- Genetic Memory: He apparently can keep the memories of any of the Symbiote's previous hosts, such as Peter's.
Abilities[]
- Genius-Level Intellect: He has the capacity to deceive someone else, and later recall someone else's memories after merging with the Symbiote, such as Peter's.
- Skilled Combatant: Once he's merged with the Symbiote, he's significantly capable of fighting against someone else.
- Expert Photographer: Before he became Venom via the Symbiote, he has the capability of photoshooting with any type of camera.
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Gwen Stacy - Former Friend and Former Love Interest (on his side; formerly)
- Captain George Stacy (to a degree; formerly)
- Flint Marko/Sandman - Former Accomplice
- Venom Symbiote - Accomplice and Costume
Enemies[]
- Peter Parker/Spider-Man - Arch-Rival, Attempted Victim, and Killer (involuntary in Eddie's case)
- Mary Jane Watson - Kidnapped and Attempted Victim
- Harry Osborn/New Goblin † - Posthumous Victim and Indirect Killer
- J. Jonah Jameson - Former Boss
Victims[]
- Harry Osborn - Stabbed to death by Venom.
Quotes[]
Spider-Man 3[]
| “ | It's Brock, sir. Edward Brock, Jr. I come before you today, humbled... and humiliated... to ask you for one thing... I want you to kill Peter Parker. | „ |
| ~ Eddie praying for Peter's death. |
| “ | Parker. | „ |
| ~ Eddie upon seeing Peter removing the symbiote suit. |
| “ | So... where to? | „ |
| ~ Eddie to Mary Jane before kidnapping her. |
| “ | Ooh, my Spider-Sense is tingling... if you know what I'm talking about. | „ |
| ~ Venom making a perverted remark towards Mary Jane. |
| “ | You're so right. I'm thinking… humiliation. Kind of like how you humiliated me. Do you remember? Do you remember what you did to me? You made me lose my girl, now I'm gonna make you lose yours. How's that sound, tiger? | „ |
| ~ Eddie to Peter as he is about to kill Mary Jane. |
| “ | Peter, what are you doing?! NO!!! | „ |
| ~ Eddie Brock's last words before being vaporised in the explosion of the symbiote.
|
Spider-Man 3: The Video Game[]
| “ | What? Let you off easy after what you put me through? I don’t think so! | „ |
| “ | Oh. You know that, do you?! Spoiler alert! With great power comes great fun! Hurting people makes my day! | „ |
| ~ Venom making fun of Uncle Ben’s motto. |
| “ | Ugh. Give me a break. I’m loving every minute of this. | „ |
| “ | You’re mine, Peter! Next, I’m going after MJ. After that… | „ |
Spider-Man 3: The Black[]
| “ | I'm having a moment. This is what he cares about the most in the world. His heart is filled with her. Her and her and her. He'll come here to get her. He'll come, and then we can flip a coin to decide if we kill him in front of her, or her in front of him. Either way, I'm good. | „ |
| ~ Venom planning his revenge on Peter and Mary Jane. |
Music[]
Venom Transformation Theme by Christopher Young
Venom Theme by Christopher Young
Trivia[]
- Apart from the credits and the novelization, Venom's name is never mentioned in the film, only being called "Symbiote" by Connors and "The Suit" by Spider-Man as a way of referring to the Symbiote. A similar instance happens with Green Goblin in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
- Because of his actions, Venom is the only villain in the Raimi series to willingly become evil as he enjoys being an evil villain, thus making him the most evil villain in the entire trilogy; all the other villains of the film series only became evil due to certain circumstances that either painted them in a sympathetic light or were beyond their control:
- Green Goblin became evil due to a serum creating within him an evil split personality although he did have an unpleasant side even before his split personality took over.
- Doctor Octopus became evil due to falling victim to his tentacles' manipulation.
- Doctor Octopus' Tentacles were evil because the reactior's heat damaged the inhibitor chip and they were just following their programming of helping their creator despite gaslighting him into commiting crimes.
- New Goblin became evil in a misguided quest to avenge his father's death.
- Sandman resorted to crime to support for his sick daughter and was haunted after accidentally killing Ben.
- Dennis Carradine was briefly helping Sandman in robbing to support for his daughter.
- His working for the Daily Bugle and frame-up of Spider-Man bears similarities to his 1990s counterpart and both get fired as a result, but unlike his 1990s counterpart, he goes to the side of outright evil while his 1990s counterpart redeemed himself and became an ally of Spider-Man.
- Venom was originally not planned to be in the movie as Sam Raimi wasn't initially a fan of the character, stating the character "lacked humanity" in comparison to the previous villains. Instead, he planned to have Vulture as the main villain of the story. However, he was pushed by Avi Arad to replace him with Venom, as he felt that the series was relying too much on Raimi's personal favorites instead of the villains that the fans like.
- In other earlier scripts of the film, the Lizard and Electro were planned to be the antagonists, rather than Venom and the Sandman. The Lizard would later appear in The Amazing Spider-Man movie while Electro appeared in the sequel. Vulture also appeared as the main antagonist of the first Spider-Man movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- According to Raimi, a spin-off titled Venom was planned by Gary Ross. Also, Ross planned to include Spider-Man and a cameo of Stan Lee in the spin-off. The film was planned to release in 2012 or 2013. However, after the cancellation of Spider-Man 4 and the reboot of the Spider-Man theatrical franchise, Sony canceled and scrapped the spin-off, which proves Venom died in the explosion.
- However, Venom would still receive his own spin-off film in October 2018, but this version of Eddie Brock/Venom is portrayed by Tom Hardy. In addition, he is portrayed as more of an anti-hero and vigilante.
- In the video games adaptations of Spider-Man 3, Venom's defeat is very different to his defeat in the movie:
- In the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions of the video game, he and Spider-Man fall from the construction site, but Spidey saved himself and left Venom to fall onto metal tubes, which impale and kill him. Also, in the video game, is never made clear what happened with the Symbiote after this.
- In the PS2, Wii and PlayStation Portable versions of the video game, after Spider-Man simply defeats him, Eddie Brock lost control of the Symbiote where it simply killed him. Also, in the video game, it was never made clear about what happened with the Symbiote after this.
- In the Game Boy Advance version of the video game, Venom fell from the construction building with Spider-Man. However, Spidey saved himself, and Venom fell into the void, before the symbiote abandons Eddie's body entirely, leaving his fate unknown.
- In the Nintendo DS and TV Game versions of the video game, Venom was simply defeated by Spider-Man.
- In the mobile phone version of the game, Venom was defeated by Spider-Man, but he escaped when Spider-Man saves Mary Jane. However, he promised Spider-Man that they would meet again before escaping.
- It is never explained how he found out about Peter and Mary Jane's relationship since he never saw them together prior to kidnapping MJ and when he kidnapped her, she and Peter were partially estranged. However, since Brock knows that Peter is Spider-Man, it is possible that the symbiote retains the memories of its past hosts like in most other versions. A possible evidence that highlights this is when Brock, during their battle, called Peter "tiger", which is what MJ called him in the final scene of Spider-Man 2, while boasting about how he planned on killing her as revenge for Peter getting him fired from The Daily Bugle.
- This theory was indeed confirmed in the one-shot comic tie-in for the film The Black, where it is shown how Eddie slowly becomes Venom and learns of Peter's memories thanks to the symbiote's skills.
- Even before the The Black tie-in was released, the novelization described that the Symbiote showed Eddie all of Peter's memories so he could know that both he and Spider-Man were the same person, with it even containing a deleted scene in which Eddie sneaks inside Peter's apartment while he was taking a shower and sees a picture of Mary Jane, giving him the idea of kidnapping her.
- This incarnation of Venom lacks the others' bulky physique, being nearly the same physique as Spider-Man himself.
- Although, once Spider-Man created a circle of loud vibrating metal pipes and removed Eddie from the symbiote, it continued to grow more tendrils until becoming at least four times as wide and reaching a height over double either hosts' heights.
- Eddie Brock was originally planned to appear in the first Spider-Man film, portrayed by R.C. Everbeck, before the scene was deleted from the final cut. He is however referenced in a newspaper from the Daily Bugle and Robbie Robertson mentions that "Eddie's been trying to get a picture of him for weeks.". The scene was kept in the novelization of the first film, where it narrates how his angry remark towards Peter Parker is spoken in a voice "filled with pure venom". This is contradicted by the novelization of the third film, since it doesn't acknowledge his presence in the first film's novelization.
- Unlike most versions of the character, who refer to themselves as "we" (i.e. both Brock and the symbiote), this version refers to himself as "I", implying that Brock is in total control of the symbiote and being evil of his own free will (as he even claims he enjoys being evil), though the symbiote did allowed Brock to do so after discovering within him the same negative personality traits that it brought out of Peter while the latter was under its influence. He does say "we" in the GBA version of the game adaptation, however.
- To prepare for his role as Venom, Topher Grace worked out for six months, gaining 24 pounds of muscle. He based his performance on alcoholics and drug addicts.
- Both Topher Grace and Thomas Haden Church confessed that when they were unceremoniously invited to meetings at Sony, they had no idea they would be auditioning for this film.
- In the San Diego Comic-Con 2006, in the lead-up to Spider-Man 3, Topher Grace and director Sam Raimi gave their opinions on Venom's villainy: Grace felt that one of the key differences between Venom/Eddie Brock and Spider-Man/Peter Parker was that, unlike Parker, Brock had a terrible childhood which molded him into the man he is in the film, though it shouldn't be considered true because it was never mentioned or shown on-screen.
- Eddie's line "My spider-sense is tingling... if you know what I'm talking about!" when referring to MJ, was Topher Grace's idea.
- When the symbiote attaches to Peter's motorcycle license plate, it takes on the shape of a V (for Venom).
- The character of Eddie Brock/Venom, as portrayed in this film, is an amalgamation of his "Amazing Spider-Man" (an obsessive journalist) and "Ultimate" (a skinny young man with a crush on Gwen Stacy) versions. This was done to present Eddie Brock as a shadowy reflection of Peter Parker (which shows that Peter Parker, when affected by the symbiote, starts to act like Eddie).
- In the comics, the symbiote was a flowing sentient liquid ooze. Sam Raimi was very clear on the film's portrayal of the symbiote: he wanted it to have character, but not to resemble a spider or octopus. As portrayed in the film, it possesses a webbing form (it was composed of many separate CGI threads) that gives it a sense of life and an appearance of gripping onto someone's body.
- The font of Venom's web message is the same font used for the title of the comic, Sensational Spider-Man.
- The villains' meeting would have seen Eddie coming across Flint pretending to be sand in a playground for his little girl to play on. Talking to Flint, Eddie would have convinced him that his girl may be cured yet.
- The union between Venom and Sandman originally had Venom just offering the cash Sandman needs to save his daughter in exchange for helping him kill Spider-Man, but during the battle, Sandman's daughter would come and tell her father that she could not be cured and was going to die, and wanted to die with her father being a good man, not a criminal.
- While Topher Grace was a big comic book fan and had read the first Venom stories as a boy, he found the suit he had to wear as Venom extremely unpleasant. It took an hour to put on (and four hours to apply the prosthetics), and it had to be constantly smeared with goo to give it a liquid organic feel. Grace also had to wear fangs, which bruised his gums. Topher Grace also didn't drink any water during his breaks because he couldn't use the bathroom with his costume on.
- When Spider-Man removes the symbiote costume, he is in a church tower and the sound of the bell allows Spider-Man to remove it, immediately afterward, it attaches itself to Eddie Brock where he transforms into Venom. This is almost exactly what happened in the Amazing Spider-Man comics.
- It was originally planned for the Symbiote to reveal Eddie's smoking skeleton when Peter separated them, meaning that the Symbiote drained it's host's life (similar to it's What If... Brave New World incarnation); Venom was also going to talk and say the line, "Never wound what you can't kill", before trying to merge with Peter again. Spider-Man would put an end to the Symbiote by repeatedly striking the steel pipes caging the Symbiote until it's form dissipated entirely. This was reshot because the test audience deemed it too dark for younger viewers, but was kept in the novelization.
- The skeleton props were also made, with Eddie's skull in particular having a resemblance to Venom's face.
- When Eddie jumps towards the Symbiote during their deaths in the explosion, for a few frames, his skeleton briefly appears around the same time the ball of nuclear energy is released after being pulled in. This is the only part that still remains of the original scene.
- Unlike Peter whose personality was manipulated by Venom, Eddie is proud to have his personality merged with Venom's. In fact, Eddie was already a self-absorbed and biased egomaniac even before bonding to the symbiote.
- This incarnation of Eddie Brock is more similar to 2000s Ultimate Spider-Man comics counterpart and Nick Katzenberg from the mainstream comics, in 2000s Ultimate Comics, Eddie Brock was more slander and more villainous than his mainstream counterpart because Ultimate Eddie Brock was pure evil and irredeemable, Eddie in the in the 2000s Ultimate Comics was vile, devious, perverted, heartless, psychopathic, spiteful, heartless, dishonest, and a very horrible person even long before bonding with Venom symbiote, while Ultimate Eddie Brock was a genuine friend to Peter and had genuinely tragic backstory where he lost his parents, but he subverted that when he tries to kill Peter, and Nick Katzenberg for the mainstream comics was a perverted, sadistic scumbag was a rivel to Peter Parker at the Daily Bugle, who talked with Peter's Aunt May, harassed Mary Jane and tried to blackmail Peter, and almost gets Peter killed and got hospitalized by Jason Macendale, even after getting saved by Spider-Man and Moon Knight, and he forcibly helped Peter to convince Mary Jane to quit smoking, and died of cancer. Yet, the latter part did redeemed himself at the final moment of his life.
- Venom was the only villain from the Raimi trilogy who didn't return in Spider-Man: No Way Home. He's also one of the only villains from pre-MCU Spider-Man movies who didn't return, the others being the Green Goblin and the Rhino from The Amazing Spider-Man duology (not counting all the minor villains). That said, a variant of Venom did appear in a post-credit scene.
- When asked in interviews, Topher Grace would jokingly imply that he would be making an appearance in the film as Eddie Brock/Venom. While Grace had no involvement in the film, Tom Hardy does pop up in the stinger as Brock.
- In contrast to his comic counterpart, who made an honest mistake by writing a false story from a poor source which got him fired (in which Spider-Man was indirectly responsible for debunking), the cinematic counterpart digs his own grave by deliberately publishing a false story with his own forged photos to slander Spider-Man, practically guaranteeing he was going to get caught eventually and fired, making his grudge against Spider-Man pettier and unreasonable.
- Venom's meeting with Sandman was slightly altered in the video game adaptations. In the movie, Sandman willingly joined forces with Venom out of his desire of killing Spider-Man. In the games, however, Sandman had no interest in killing Spider-Man but Venom revealed he had kidnapped his daughter, Penny, and used her to blackmail Sandman into joining forces with him.
- The late Heath Ledger was considered for the role of Eddie Brock/Venom before Topher Grace was cast. Ledger would later play the Joker in The Dark Knight before his death.
- Venom is the only main antagonist in the Raimi series who never terrorized Aunt May, unlike Green Goblin, who broke into her house and gave her a scare, and Doctor Octopus, who held her hostage and attempted to drop her off a building.
- Venom is the only main antagonist in the Raimi series that Spider-Man killed (albeit unintentional for Eddie's part), unlike the other two, being Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus who died by their own hand.
- There were two deleted scenes from the film that foreshadowed the symbiote:
- The scene showcasing Peter briefly stares at his own reflection in a mirror before seeing a brief flash of the symbiote screaming with a human mouth, possibly Peter's. This startles Peter and makes him lock the black suit inside the suitcase as seen in the movie.
- Before Peter goes to fight Harry, he opens the suitcase containing the black suit, and the suit briefly moves on its own while Peter stares and smiles eerily.
- Eddie often refers Spider-Man/Peter Parker by his last name. Ironically, his own final moments has him referring Peter only by his first name instead.
- Peter Parker was indirectly responsible for Eddie's transformation to Venom, as the former told the latter to get religion to get forgiveness after calling him out for faking the pictures of Spider-Man, which made Eddie go to a church and asks God to kill Peter. Peter himself went to church to take off the Venom symbiote suit as he made the noise of the bell, which attracted Eddie. When Peter finally removes the Venom suit, the symbiote falls into Eddie and bonds with him, becoming Venom.
External Links[]
- Venom on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Venom on the Spider-Man Films Wiki
- Venom on the Marvel Wiki
- Eddie Brock on the Marvel Wiki
- Venom on the Marvel Movies Wiki
