'Venom' shows its fanged face in first full-length trailer — to mixed reviews

Nick Schager
·Writer

Spider-Man may be swinging into action alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in this Friday’s Avengers: Infinity War, but that doesn’t mean his own adversaries are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs. That’s particularly true with regards to Venom, the black alien symbiote who has long proved one of the wall-crawler’s greatest nemesis. Following a tantalizing tease, the beast finally shows his monstrous true form in the first full-length trailer for Venom. And so far, his stand-alone saga is inspiring a very mixed reaction from fans — save for universal objection to the film’s pronunciation of a key term.

Arriving in theaters in October, Venom will be an origin story for the interstellar creature, which is obtained by an evil corporation run by Dr. Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) and subsequently grafts itself onto Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), an investigative reporter who sticks his nose in the wrong place. Brock is soon hearing Venom’s voice in his head, as well as benefiting from its powers, which include the use of fearsome tendril-y tentacles that help him fell adversaries and stay on his speeding motorcycle. Though the character is normally portrayed as a villain, the clip above makes plain that in this version, he’ll be functioning as more of a malevolent antihero, with Brock trying to wield his abilities for good while also attempting to maintain his relationship with his girlfriend (played by Michelle Williams).

Having now gotten a look at Venom in all his fanged glory, Marvel die-hards took to social media to voice their feelings about the upcoming project. For some, it appears Sony’s latest tease is an outright winner:

Others continued to object to the absence of Spider-Man, who in the comics is the first host for the Venom symbiote (hence why the creature looks like a dark, mutated version of the hero):

Many thought the trailer indicated that the film would be another swing and a miss for Sony:

However, there was a general consensus about the way Jenny Slate says the word symbiote, which everyone agreed was incorrect:

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Venom hits theaters Oct. 5.

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