There are times in our lives when we just want something to fail. In these cases, it’s hard to tell whether news about this something is gleefully bad or just us putting out negative spin on it. While there are a lot of people who want Venom to fail, I’m not necessarily one of them. But I think its safe to say that the recent leaked plot is, well, not very good.
Comic Book Movie has what they claim is a leaked plot outline from the film and if it is real, well, expect a lot of unhappy comic book fans out there.
So, what does the plot entail? Here are the main points. SPOILER WARNING in case this plot is truly legit.
- Eddie Brock is a down on his luck ex-con in the film. This is a change from the comics, who had the much more interesting back story of an upstanding reporter who makes one bad decision which causes his life to do a downward spiral.
- Michelle Williams plays Brock’s wife and they have a daughter, neither of which I believe the comic book version has. Both are basically inserted into the story so they can be kidnapped and later rescued by Eddie.
- His daughter doesn’t recognize him after getting out of prison and goes on a bender, leading him to pass out in the woods.
- Near where Eddie passes out, some space debris lands, from which the alien symbiotes escape from. This is how Eddie bonds with the alien symbiote in the film, slightly mimicking how the symbiote came to Earth in the Raimi films.
- Yes, I said symbiotes. There are three: one that bonds with Eddie, one that bonds with a government doctor who has arrived to quarantine the crash site, killing him and hiding in his body, and one the government takes into custody.
- Eddie himself is taken into custody by the government when he is discovered near the crash site.
- Eddie is poked and prodded by scientists, which awakens the symbiote in him. The symbiote extends tendrils from inside Eddie’s body in order to beat up their captors and escape.
- The chase scene where the cars go flying? That’s the symbiote in action, shielding Eddie from harm.
- The government kidnaps Eddie’s family, forcing him to return to the lab for more tests.
- Eddie crosses paths with the other symbiote in custody upon his return. The captured symbiote breaks free and merges with a scientist. Eddie’s symbiote makes itself into a costume to fight the other symbiote.
- The alien only appears as black veins on Eddie’s body, or as extra appendages in the abovementioned scenes. The only time that Eddie goes full-out Venom is during the final act for under 10 minutes of screen time.
- That dead scientist that the third symbiote bonded to? He not really dead and will return in the optimistically hoped for sequel.
- There is no mention of Spider-Man or the MCU, at least not in the sense that Spidey and Venom will ever fight each other.
It goes without saying that this plot synopsis could very well be fake, although CBM stated it jibed with what they heard from other sources. But if the plot is true, golly, expect the Internet to explode over the next few days.
Much of the ire will be aimed at the fact that Eddie Brock isn’t in costume until the end of the film, and then for a short amount of time. That breaks a cardinal rule about comic book films. But there is a whole lot more to be mad about in the synopsis. Eddie’s wife and kids existing only to be plot McGuffins is one. The “passing out in the woods” point is another (and such a loopy idea that it makes me think the plot might be a fake.) Weakening Eddie’s backstory also rankles me a bit.
And the fact the whole film seems less like a superhero film than a body snatcher sci-fi horror film might be the worst one. Not that an approach like that wouldn’t work with Venom, but the plot here doesn’t really seem like a Venom movie. It seems like a cheap, generic script they had lying around that they tweaked slightly to make it a sorta Venom film.
But that all assumes that the plot is real. We’ll probably find out if the takedown notices start being sent out. We’ll keep you posted.
