When the first trailer for Sony's upcoming Venom movie debuted back in February, there was one important thing missing: Eddie Brock actually being enveloped by the symbiote. This was a glaring omission and what was meant to whet the appetite resulted in a bit of backlash, with some postulating that the suit wouldn't even show up until the end of the movie. This week's full trailer silenced that claim, giving us the money shot of Venom looking just like his comic book counterpart. But sometimes, what's on the page looks like, well, something else when brought to live-action. And actress Elizabeth Banks had some blunt thoughts about what Venom's tongue looks like in the new movie. She said:
Elizabeth Banks is a hilarious treasure, and she sort of has a point and now it is difficult to unsee. It's safe to say that such an image is definitely not what Sony was going for, even if Venom is aiming to be an adult anti-hero movie. Like a panting dog, the long tongue hanging out is a huge part of Venom's image. This isn't a case of something being lost in translation so much as it's a case of not knowing what the tongue would really look like when realized in live-action. In the comics, his tongue is two-dimensional on a page and is more eel-like, whereas here it has a lot of texture and if the thought enters your head, it does kind of make it look like Venom is snacking on slimy space penis. Here, check out that creepy tongue moment for yourself below.
It may be easy to forget, but Elizabeth Banks was actually in Spider-Man 3, the last movie to feature Venom, as she was back playing Betty Brant. So maybe she's just having a bit of fun at her old franchise's expense. It's still better than Emo Peter. Naturally, Elizabeth Banks' hot take elicited tons of responses and some of her fellow celebrities chimed in on the subject. Elizabeth Banks' Zack and Miri Make a Porno co-star Seth Rogen responded to her Twitter post, giving us a bit of insight to how he would handle the character, saying:
In my version of the movie, he would be.
I have no doubts he would, and if anyone was wondering why Ruben Fleischer is directing Venom and not Seth Rogen, there's your answer. Seth Rogen wasn't the only one to offer his two cents either. British comedian Ricky Gervais interjected by alluding to some Hollywood gossip and legend about Gone with the Wind, saying:
I bet this is what it would have been like if Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh had chatted on Twitter.
Cue the Google searches for the two co-stars. Poor Venom, what an inauspicious start. There looks to be some interesting psychological elements at play in this movie and it boasts a stellar cast, but seeing the badass villain/anti-hero with a phallic-looking tongue in his mouth is not the ideal mental image of the character. Although this may be less offensive to purists and comic book fans than the horrendous (though technically valid) pronunciation of "symbiote" in the trailer which has raised quite the stink online. Hopefully Venom overcomes these minor, but hilarious, complaints to deliver the movie that the fan favorite character deserves.
Venom hits theaters on October 5, so see if you can stop seeing Venom's tongue as something else by then. For all the latest in crass and hilarious superhero hot takes, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
