History Trivia / Venom2018

** Like the 2018 ''Venom'' movie, there was no connection to Spider-Man whatsoever, and it also takes numerous liberties with the source material.
** [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Eddy]] Brock lived at St. Estus' orphanage as a child, and was taken hostage by Cletus Kasady when the latter burned the orphanage down. Years later, Eddy became a respected journalist, while Cletus became a notorious serial killer with a cult following and a fixation on Eddy.
** Eddy went undercover to help the police lure Cletus into a trap, with Cletus being sentenced to a televised public execution.
** Dr. Rachel Kafka – Cletus’ psychiatrist – combines aspects of Anne Weying, being Eddy’s love-interest and even becoming She-Venom late into the movie.
** The Venom symbiote – bonded to an alien spider – escapes a horde of "Blood Hunter" symbiotes by jumping into a stasis pod, which crash-lands on Earth and crushes a mugger in the process of robbing Eddy. The symbiote leaves the dead alien spider and bonds to Eddy, turning him into a semi-amorphous monster with the ability to sprout giant spider-legs from the emblems on his chest and back.
** As Venom, Eddy beats up some of Cletus’ followers, but has a symbiote-induced premonition of Cletus bonding to a Blood Hunter symbiote and going on a rampage, and sets out to stop Cletus’ execution.
** One of the Blood Hunter symbiotes follows the Venom symbiote to Earth and bonds to Cletus just as he’s about to be executed. Cletus escapes and fights with Venom, proving even more powerful than him.
** The Vault – a black ops government organization that seeks to capture and weaponize the symbiotes, having captured a few Blood Hunters in the past – recruits Dr. Kafka and manipulates her into helping them capture Eddy and separate him from the Venom symbiote.
** Upon realizing she was tricked, Dr. Kafka is imprisoned, but the Venom symbiote escapes and bonds to her, turning her into She-Venom until she returns the symbiote to Eddy with a kiss.
** Cletus – now going by Carnage – hunts down the people involved in his arrest and kills them, then sends his followers on a city-wide rampage.
** As the Blood Hunter symbiote consumes him from the inside-out, Cletus returns to the ruins of St. Estus’ for a final confrontation with Eddy. Eddy and Dr. Kafka inject Cletus with Vitamin-C to incapacitate him, but the Blood Hunter symbiote abandons Cletus’ body in preparation to reproduce. Eddie separates from the Venom symbiote and sends it to fight the Blood Hunter, then seemingly immolates them both.
** In the film’s finale, Eddy and Dr. Kafka remain a couple, and it’s revealed the Venom symbiote is still alive and bonded to Eddy.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/SonysSpiderManUniverse Enough for its own page]].

* FanNickname: Due to the infamous "See The Movie" tagline, some have jokingly referred to the movie as ''Venom: See The Movie'' as if that's what it's actually called.

* TheStinger: Woody Harrelson was sort-of expected to play Cletus, but sharp-eyed viewers will notice that the prison guard who escorts Eddie to Cletus' cell is Wade Williams, who played a prison guard in the show PrisonBreak.

** Venom's co-creator Todd [=McFarlane=] stated before release that he had faith in Creator/TomHardy. After release he said that, after ''Spider-Man 3'', his only hope was that Venom would [[TheBrute be enormous]] and the movie didn't disappoint.

* AwesomeDearBoy: Michelle Williams signed onto this movie just so she could work with Tom Hardy, which is something she really wanted to do. (An interview on the Blu-Ray states that she considers watching Tom Hardy go nuts on set as Eddie/Venom is basically PassThePopcorn for her). The other reason she took the part? MoneyDearBoy. After the movie was released and was safe for her to spoil, she added a third reason: she was excited by the prospect of playing She-Venom, [[OneSceneWonder even if only for a single scene]].
* CaliforniaDoubling: Inverted, as this movie is set in San Francisco. The Chinese grocery store is located in Atlanta. The storefront where Dora speaks to Eddie is actually a beauty supply store; it's designed to look like a local place named J & J Jewelry, but the real one is nowhere near Chinatown. The pursuit in what should've been the Muir Woods was filmed at Panola Mountain State Park. The motorcycle chase alternates between San Francisco and Atlanta fairly often as well.

** While the initially intended R rating was ultimately scrapped, ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'''s success as a AntiHero-based film was a decisive factor in pushing forward for ''Venom''.

* TroubledProduction: Development on the movie was [[ChristmasRushed rushed]] to meet an October 2018 deadline -- several months after the release of ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', a Marvel Studios movie with ''Spider-Man'' characters, and a few months before Sony's own ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', which ''Venom'' itself would promote -- and this would directly and indirectly lead to a number of problems down the line. According to ''[[https://deadline.com/2018/11/bohemian-rhapsody-nutcracker-weekend-box-office-tiffany-haddish-nobodys-fool-1202494598/ Deadline]]'', the production on the film underwent a shutdown leading up to the release, [[HostilityOnTheSet Tom Hardy and the director got into frequent conflicts on the set]], and editing on the film was done in an incredibly short timespan to meet the aforementioned release date that had already been set. Some have guessed that this is the reason for the film's wildly disconnected tone.

* YouSayTomato: Symbiote and the fact that it was said Sym-''BYE''-Ote in the pre-release materials instead of Sym-''BEE''-Ote, which was the way most people have been saying it including in various spider-man cartoons where venom's symbiote has appeared, got people notably annoyed. It actually got to the point, ADR was used to say it Sym-''BEE''-ote in the final film. The discussion got to the point that Merriam Webster chimed in about how , but to some surprise actually confirmed [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/venom-trailer-drives-searches-for-symbiote-20180424 it was pronounced either way]] even going to make a joke about how the trailer version of the word (Sym-''BYE''-ote) is [[https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/988808470685155331 ''just an earth-616 thing'']].

* YouSayTomato: Symbiote and the fact that it was said Sym-''BYE''-Ote in the pre-release materials instead of Sym-''BEE''-Ote, which was the way most people have been saying it including in various spider-man cartoons where venom's symbiote has appeared, got people notably annoyed. It actually got to the point, ADR was used to say it Sym-''bee''-ote in the final film. The discussion got to the point that Merriam Webster chimed in about how , but to some surprise actually confirmed [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/venom-trailer-drives-searches-for-symbiote-20180424 it was pronounced either way]] even going to make a joke about how the trailer version of the word (Sym-''BYE''-ote) is [[https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/988808470685155331 ''just an earth-616 thing'']].

* YouSayTomato: Symbiote and the fact that it was said Sym-''BYE''-Ote in the pre-release materials instead of Sym-''BEE''-Ote, which was the way most people have been saying it including in various spider-man cartoons where venom's symbiote has appeared, got people notably annoyed. It actually got to the point, ADR was used to say it Sym-''bee''-ote in the final film. The discussion got to the point that Merriam Webster chimed in about how , but to some surprise actually confirmed [[https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/venom-trailer-drives-searches-for-symbiote-20180424 it was pronounced either way]] even going to make a joke about how the trailer version of the word (Symb-Eye-ote) is [[https://twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/988808470685155331 ''just an earth-616 thing'']].

* ActingForTwo: Creator/TomHardy plays Eddie Brock and also provides the voice of the symbiote. The same goes in foreign dubs, excluding the Japanese one, where Creator/JunichiSuwabe voices Eddie, while Shido Nakamura voices the symbiote.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/SonysUniverseOfMarvelCharacters Enough for its own page]].

* TroubledProduction: Development on the movie was [[ChristmasRushed rushed]] to meet an October 2018 deadline -- several months after the release of ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'', a Marvel Studios movie with ''Spider-Man'' characters, and a few months before Sony's own ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', which ''Venom'' itself would promote -- and this would directly and indirectly lead to a number of problems down the line. According to ''[[https://deadline.com/2018/11/bohemian-rhapsody-nutcracker-weekend-box-office-tiffany-haddish-nobodys-fool-1202494598/ Deadline]]'', the production on the film underwent a shutdown leading up to the release, [[HostilityOnTheSet Tom Hardy and the director got into frequent conflicts on the set]], and editing on the film was done in an incredibly short timespan to meet the aforementioned release date that had already been set. In any case, it's actually surprising to see that the final film itself doesn't reflect the majority of these problems.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/SpiderMan Enough for its own page]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/SpiderMan Enough for its own page]]

* ActingForTwo: Creator/TomHardy plays Eddie Brock and also provides the voice of the symbiote. The same goes in foreign dubs, excluding the Japanese one, when Creator/JunichiSuwabe voice Eddie, while Shido Nakamura voice the symbiote instead.

** Venom's co-creator Todd [=McFarlane=] stated before release that he had faith in Creator/TomHardy. After release he said that, after Spider-Man 3, his only hope was that Venom would [[TheBrute be enormous]] and the movie didn't disappoint.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/MattSmith, Creator/PedroPascal, and [[Film/TheDanishGirl Matthias Schoenaerts]] were considered for the role of Carlton Drake before Creator/RizAhmed was cast. Smith would eventually go on to portray Loxias Crown in ''Film/{{Morbius|2020}}''.
** Creator/LinManuelMiranda, Creator/JackieEarleHaley, and Creator/CameronMonaghan expressed interest in playing [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/{{Carnage}} Cletus Kasady]]]] before the casting of Creator/WoodyHarrelson.
** [[WebVideo/TruthInJournalism Adi Shankar]], [[Film/DeathNote2017 Adam Wingard]], and [[Film/DodgeBallATrueUnderdogStory Rawson Marshall Thurber]] were considered to direct the movie before Creator/RubenFleischer was hired. Shankar previously produced ''WebVideo/TruthInJournalism'' which features [[spoiler:Creator/RyanKwanten as Eddie Brock.]]
** A ''Venom'' spin-off movie has been in the planning stages as far back as 2007, with said movie portraying the title character as an anti-hero and including ComicBook/{{Carnage}} as the main villain.
** In 2013, a ''Venom'' film was also considered as one of the planned spin-offs of ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries'' along with a planned ''Script/SinisterSix'' movie (which would also have potentially included Venom as a member of the titular team), with Alex Kurtzman as the director. The leaked e-mails from the 2014 Sony hack also revealed that, among the wealth of planned installments for ''The Amazing Spider-Man Series'', a few of them would have focused on Venom, one of them even being an ''Agent Venom'' film.
** The film was originally planned to begin with the Life Foundation shuttle coming across the symbiote-infested comet and harvesting four of them, but this scene was cut and the film instead opens with the shuttle on its way back to Earth after collecting the samples.
** "The Third Floor” -- one of the companies that worked on the ''Venom'' movie's CGI -- released concept art showing that Carnage was originally going to be the film's antagonist rather than Riot.

** Creator/MattSmith, Creator/PedroPascal, and [[Film/TheDanishGirl Matthias Schoenaerts]] were considered for the role of Carlton Drake before Creator/RizAhmed was cast. Smith would eventually go on to portray Loxias Crown in ''Film/Morbius2020''.
** Creator/JackieEarleHaley and Creator/CameronMonaghan expressed interest in playing [[spoiler: [[ComicBook/{{Carnage}} Cletus Kasady]]]] before the casting of Creator/WoodyHarrelson.

** Creator/MattSmith, Creator/PedroPascal, and [[Film/TheDanishGirl Matthias Schoenaerts]] were considered for the role of Carlton Drake before Creator/RizAhmed was cast.

** Venom's co-creator Todd [=McFarlane=] has stated that he had faith in Creator/TomHardy doing a good job acting the part.

** Previous Venom actor Creator/TopherGrace heartily approved of Hardy's casting, calling him "just the best dude."

* ExecutiveMeddling: It was originally reported that Ruben Fleischer wanted to make an R-rated movie, but that some executives at Sony didn't in the hopes that they could have Tom Holland's Spider-Man cross over with Tom Hardy's Venom, and that the studio won and the film is PG-13. Contradicting these reports, Fleischer later stated that there was no R-rated version and that they were always aiming for PG-13.

* MilestoneCelebration: The film is released in 2018, the 30th anniversary of Eddie Brock's first major appearance in Spider-Man comics, ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #300 in May 1988 more precisely.[[note]]He had an EarlyBirdCameo in ''Web of Spider-Man'' #18 in September 1986 before that.[[/note]]
* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: The reason that the lobsters in the tank had to be removed and replaced with plastic ones once Tom Hardy [[ThrowItIn decided he was going to climb into the tank.]]

* CaliforniaDoubling: Inverted, as this movie is set in San Francisco. The Chinese grocery store is located in Atlanta. The storefront where Dora speaks to Eddie is actually a beauty supply store; it's designed to look like a local place named J & J Jewelry, but the real one is nowhere near Chinatown. The motorcycle chase alternates between San Francisco and Atlanta fairly often as well.

* CaliforniaDoubling: Inverted, as this movie is set in San Francisco. The Chinese grocery store is located in Atlanta. The motorcycle chase alternates between San Francisco and Atlanta fairly often as well.

** While the universe that ''Venom'' is supposed to kick off is to be set in its own continuity and not that of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, somehow producer Amy Pascal has [[http://heroichollywood.com/amy-pascal-confirms-black-cat-venom/ hinted]] at the presence of Creator/TomHolland's [[Film/SpiderManHomecoming Spider-Man]] in it, which would mean that there will be at least ''some'' ties to the MCU. However, the statement is contradictory to Creator/KevinFeige's plans for the MCU, which do ''not'' include ''Venom'' at all (or do not yet, WildMassGuessing is in full force here). Pascal later retracted her comments on the MCU merging, stating that the film is not a part of that universe. Pascal then said in a later interview that although the spinoff characters will not appear in the MCU they exist in the same reality, which Feige backed up as the perfect answer... at least until an interview with ''Entertainment Weekly'' stated that the film was ''not'' part of the MCU whatsoever. It mostly depends on who you ask, with the people at Sony leaning towards "yes" and the people at Marvel saying "no". The end of the MCU Spider-Man deal between Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures definitely buried the idea.

* DevelopmentHell: Producer Avi Arad had been trying to make a Venom movie since ''before'' the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' even came out, as he had noticed how well the character was doing in toy sales in the '90s, making him believe that Venom would make for great blockbuster material. It wasn't until after ''Film/SpiderMan3'' that the project went into serious development, at first as a spin-off of the trilogy, but it was then decided to have the film be set in its own universe, partially in response to the negative reception that Creator/TopherGrace's take on the character received. Development was halted when ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'' began production, but then resumed after the release of that film, with the idea that the Venom movie would this time be a spin-off of the Amazing series. After the Amazing series was cancelled in favor of bringing Spider-Man to the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, development was halted yet again, but after a year or so, the final version of the movie was put back into development and then eventual production, with the idea of having it be set in its own universe revived.

** While the universe that ''Venom'' is supposed to kick off is to be set in its own continuity and not that of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, somehow producer Amy Pascal has [[http://heroichollywood.com/amy-pascal-confirms-black-cat-venom/ hinted]] at the presence of Creator/TomHolland's [[Film/SpiderManHomecoming Spider-Man]] in it, which would mean that there will be at least ''some'' ties to the MCU. However, the statement is contradictory to Creator/KevinFeige's plans for the MCU, which do ''not'' include ''Venom'' at all (or do not yet, WildMassGuessing is in full force here). Pascal later retracted her comments on the MCU merging, stating that the film is not a part of that universe. Pascal then said in a later interview that although the spinoff characters will not appear in the MCU they exist in the same reality, which Feige backed up as the perfect answer... at least until an interview with ''Entertainment Weekly'' stated that the film was ''not'' part of the MCU whatsoever. It mostly depends on who you ask, with the people at Sony leaning towards "yes" and the people at Marvel saying "no."