Ruben Fleischer Confirms VENOM’s Two Storylines

Brazilian Comic Con is happening right now - an event this writer did not know existed, but here we are - and director Ruben Fleischer was on hand with Tom Hardy (via satellite) to talk about their Venom adaptation. During their presentation, the duo revealed which comic book storylines the picture - penned by Scott Rosenberg (Pain & Gain), Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2), and Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey) - will bring to the screen. 

Lethal Protector and Planet of the Symbiotes will be the two narratives combined into Venom. Lethal Protector is a 1993 arc, written by David Michelinie, with art by Mark Bagley, Ron Lim and Sam DeLarosa. Eddie Brock (Hardy) moves away from NYC to San Francisco, only to be kidnapped by the Life Foundation, who wants to create super soldiers from his symbiote suit. In the end, Venom actually teams up with Spider-Man to take down five clones. 

Planet of the Symbiotes was published in '95 (and written by Michelinie), and also sees Venom teaming with Spidey (and Scarlet Spider) to investigate a series of murders he thinks he may be committing himself. Their investigation reveals it’s actually the five duplicates from the Lethal Protector storyline, who've built a teleporter to another planet already swarming with symbiotes. This storyline also finds serial killer Cletus Cassidy bonding with his own red symbiote suit to become Carnage. 

There are a few things to chew on here. First off, both of these narratives involve our favorite neighborhood webhead, so is Tom Holland actually appearing in this Venom picture? Secondly, Riz Ahmed has long been rumored to be up for Cletus Cassidy (a/k/a Carnage), so the reveal of Planet of the Symbiotes' inclusion may have also confirmed his character, as well. But who are Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate playing? And who's gonna be cast as Scarlet Spider? And is this movie actually going to go to outer space? 

Guess we'll only know once Venom is released on October 5, 2018.