Comics
Is ‘Life’ a Prequel to Sony’s ‘Spider-Man’ Spinoff, ‘Venom’?!
Is Sony’s Columbia Pictures puling one of the biggest coups in the history of cinema?
I just unloaded all of my webbing at this new fan theory that’s too good to be true, yet is surprisingly believable.
Is Life, in theaters March 24th, a prequel to the long gestured Spider-Man spinoff, Venom?!
The first piece of evidence is pretty simple; all three films/franchises are released through Columbia Pictures, not just Sony.
The second clue is that just yesterday, out of the blue, Venom was given an official release date of October 5, 2018, meaning there must be secret progress behind closed doors in order to get production underway for that targeted date.
Another bit of information is that Sony contacted me directly wanting it known that Alex Kurtzman (The Mummy) was no longer attached to direct Venom.
Here’s where we start getting into the Spider-Man tie-in…
The trailer for Life carries the exact same shot from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. The villain in the 2007 sequel? Eddie Brock (Venom), played by Topher Grace!
Spider-Man 3
Life
Yes, we’ve double checked and confirmed this is a real thing. Nearly the same footage from a 2007 movie is in a trailer for the 2017 Life. What does it mean? Could Life truly be a Venom origin story? Why not? Shared universes are all the rage now, and what a cool way to re-introduce the character, setting up a quasi-remake for next year.
Here’s where the conspiracy really gains some footing…
FilmSchoolRejects recaps it perfectly: “See, in the comics and the movie, Venom isn’t a humanoid, it’s an alien symbiote that attaches itself to a humanoid and takes them over. In the comics, the symbiote came home with Peter from the Secret Wars, and in Raimi’s film it falls to Earth on a meteor. In both cases it attaches first to Peter, turning his classic red-and-blue suit black and making him do terrible, terrible things like dance, then to Eddie Brock, who becomes Venom. Looking back on the Life trailer, said goo from Mars does appear to be some kind of adhesive symbiote capable of starting small and spreading man-sized, and the inclusion of a single crowd shot — on Earth — would seem to indicate our crew isn’t successful in destroying it.”
The site also notes that what really gives this theory legs are Reese and Wernick, the writers, who do have Marvel connections via Deadpool, and Sony, the studio behind Spider-Man 3, Life, and Venom.
With studio’s pulling the rug out from under fans being all the rage – The Woods, Split, Cloverfield – it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if this fan theory ended up being true. The writers could have easily watched an early cut of Life and suggested squeezing a connection into the film to tie-it into the franchise. But who knows? We’re probably all just having a serious case of wishful thinking.
Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 was a huge misstep, mostly because it was alleged that he was forced into including the popular character into the storyline. Raimi has gone on record that he isn’t a fan of Venom nor does he understand the character’s motivations. To put it simply, it’s a story about rejection, which Eddie Brock and the alien symbiote share in common. Their shared hatred of Peter Parker’s success fuels their hate and fuses them into one. It’ll be interesting to see how Sony plans on telling a solo Venom story if he’s the film’s protagonist. Deadpool and Logan are the best examples of the ultimate anti-hero, but what would drive a Venom story? Carnage? Whether Life is a prequel or not, I can’t wait to put Spider-Man 3′s awful effects in the rearview mirror along with other disasters like Spawn.
What do you guys think?!
Comics
‘The Toxic Avenger’ Returns with Cover Artwork for First Issue of New Comic Book Series [Exclusive]
With a remake on the way and a new 4K restoration of the original classic now streaming, it’s a good time to be a fan of Troma’s The Toxic Avenger. Additionally, Matt Bors — the founder of The Nib and a political cartoonist who has twice been named a Pulitzer Prize finalist —and acclaimed artist Fred Harper (Snelson) are collaborating on an all-new 5-issue comic book series starring the satirical superhero of the Troma Films cult classic films!
TOXIC AVENGER #1 will land in stores on October 9, 2024.
While you wait, you can exclusively check out the issue #1 cover art from Fred Harper below, along with a set of emojis designed by Harper for the extremely online teens of Tromaville.
“The Toxic Avenger delivers what Troma fans want,” said AHOY Comics Editor-in-Chief Tom Peyer. “The series has violent action, gross mutations, bursting pustules, eye-popping visuals, and trenchant humor.”
“If there was ever a superhuman hero for these toxic, miserable times, Toxie is the one!” said Lloyd Kaufman. “Only AHOY Comics and Bors & Harper could pull this off…er…mop this up! Toxie and the Troma Team can’t wait ‘til you read -no, experience – the art and stories that the Toxic Avenger Comic Book will explode in your brain, your soul, and your heart. Above all, remember – Toxie loves you and so do I.”
“This series will combine elements of the original films with the Toxic Crusaders cartoon and characters in familiar ways, updated to tell a story of environmental devastation, corporate control, and social media mutation,” said Bors. “The Toxic Avenger is first and foremost an environmental satire, one about a small town and its unremarkable people trapped and transformed by circumstances they don’t control. The story Fred Harper and I are telling is about people frustrated by authorities telling them not to worry about their life, that things are fine, even as their dog mutates in front of their eyes. And at its core it is about a powerless boy, Melvin, who finds out he can be incredibly strong, hideously mutated, well-admired, and incredibly heroic… but still ultimately powerless over human behavior.”
In The Toxic Avenger, teenager Melvin Junko helps run his parent’s junkyard in Tromaville, a small town in New Jersey where nothing much ever happens — until an ill-timed train derailment of toxic waste transforms Melvin into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength: the Toxic Avenger!
Under a media blackout imposed by Biohazard Solutions (BS) and their PR-spewing Chairwoman Lindsay Flick, Melvin emerges as a hero fighting against BS and the mutated threats that keep popping up around Tromaville.
Eventually Melvin uncovers a vast conspiracy more far-reaching than he could have ever imagined — but he knows if everyone is simply made aware of the crisis, they’ll act to stop it. Right?
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