Yep, it's true, I like both cinematic depictions of Venom!
To which some might say, "but Grant, one is comic-accurate, and the other isn't!"
To which I say?
"Depends on the comic."
The fact is that the infamous Spider-Man 3 depiction of Venom, which is widely cited as comic-inaccurate, is almost every bit as accurate as the Tom Hardy Venom, just accurate to different comics.
To be frank, in some ways I recognized the Grace Venom more than the Hardy Venom, not because the Grace Venom was really any more accurate, but rather, because I was more familiar with the version of Venom the Grace Venom was based on: The Todd MacFarlane Venom.
Todd MacFarlane may or may not have created Venom, but he was certainly important for getting the character started, a huge driving force for the character's earliest appearances. His now almost obscure depiction of the character does many things that many Venom fans would probably not be particularly familiar with.
The MacFarlane Venom actually often alternates between saying "I" and "we", singular and plural, because it's Eddie speaking for the Symbiote, and sometimes himself, and the speech bubbles he's given seem to imply a fairly human but somewhat crazed voice. Regardless, it's strongly implied that he and the Symbiote are permanently bonded, and thus separating them would be lethal, their bio-chemistries were being fundamentally changed, to the point where his Venom face was appartly not a mask, but rather a result of full fusion of himself and the Symbiote. Still, he never had a tongue hanging out, a currently more famous part of the sheer image of Venom, but that's not the oddest thing about the old MacFarlane Venom.
What makes this Venom even more unusual by contemporary standards for the character is that he only fully cares about the innocent if they don't have any positive relationships with Spider-Man. In fact, he acts like a textbook case of some kind of Cluster B personality disorder, right down to doing everything he can to deny responsibility for his actions, his trademark trait during the MacFarlane run.
Sounds familiar? Because it should. That was pretty much the Topher Grace Venom; he was probably based primarily on the MacFarlane of the character.
But what about the Tom Hardy version?
Who said that he wasn't based on any existing version of Venom? Who said he wasn't valid? I didn't. As is well known to many, he's as valid as the Topher Grace Venom! Maybe even slightly moreso, if we're going to take all of the character's subsequent comic history into account, instead of specific eras and individual depictions. But to be as specific and accurate as possible, he seems to be most heavily based on David Michelinie's take on the Venom character of the 1990s. Michelinie was probably the main force behind reinventing Venom into something completely different, and yet far more familiar to most Venom fans.
Michelinie's depiction of Venom speaks only in plural, with speech bubbles that imply no insanity, but don't indicate a human voice to speak of, as if it's the Symbiote speaking for both himself and Eddir Brock, a team of two separate individuals who could potentially exist without each other, but choose not to. With that in mind, the Venom face doesn't seem to be what Eddie's face morphs into, but rather, a "mask" that the Symbiote superimposes over Eddie's face, complete with a long tongue that hangs out, proud and true.
To which some might say, "but Grant, one is comic-accurate, and the other isn't!"
To which I say?
"Depends on the comic."
The fact is that the infamous Spider-Man 3 depiction of Venom, which is widely cited as comic-inaccurate, is almost every bit as accurate as the Tom Hardy Venom, just accurate to different comics.
To be frank, in some ways I recognized the Grace Venom more than the Hardy Venom, not because the Grace Venom was really any more accurate, but rather, because I was more familiar with the version of Venom the Grace Venom was based on: The Todd MacFarlane Venom.
Todd MacFarlane may or may not have created Venom, but he was certainly important for getting the character started, a huge driving force for the character's earliest appearances. His now almost obscure depiction of the character does many things that many Venom fans would probably not be particularly familiar with.
The MacFarlane Venom actually often alternates between saying "I" and "we", singular and plural, because it's Eddie speaking for the Symbiote, and sometimes himself, and the speech bubbles he's given seem to imply a fairly human but somewhat crazed voice. Regardless, it's strongly implied that he and the Symbiote are permanently bonded, and thus separating them would be lethal, their bio-chemistries were being fundamentally changed, to the point where his Venom face was appartly not a mask, but rather a result of full fusion of himself and the Symbiote. Still, he never had a tongue hanging out, a currently more famous part of the sheer image of Venom, but that's not the oddest thing about the old MacFarlane Venom.
What makes this Venom even more unusual by contemporary standards for the character is that he only fully cares about the innocent if they don't have any positive relationships with Spider-Man. In fact, he acts like a textbook case of some kind of Cluster B personality disorder, right down to doing everything he can to deny responsibility for his actions, his trademark trait during the MacFarlane run.
Sounds familiar? Because it should. That was pretty much the Topher Grace Venom; he was probably based primarily on the MacFarlane of the character.
But what about the Tom Hardy version?
Who said that he wasn't based on any existing version of Venom? Who said he wasn't valid? I didn't. As is well known to many, he's as valid as the Topher Grace Venom! Maybe even slightly moreso, if we're going to take all of the character's subsequent comic history into account, instead of specific eras and individual depictions. But to be as specific and accurate as possible, he seems to be most heavily based on David Michelinie's take on the Venom character of the 1990s. Michelinie was probably the main force behind reinventing Venom into something completely different, and yet far more familiar to most Venom fans.
Michelinie's depiction of Venom speaks only in plural, with speech bubbles that imply no insanity, but don't indicate a human voice to speak of, as if it's the Symbiote speaking for both himself and Eddir Brock, a team of two separate individuals who could potentially exist without each other, but choose not to. With that in mind, the Venom face doesn't seem to be what Eddie's face morphs into, but rather, a "mask" that the Symbiote superimposes over Eddie's face, complete with a long tongue that hangs out, proud and true.
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