Venom has one of the most recognizable and badass character designs in all of comics, and the upcoming Venom movie looks to finally do justice for this character on the big screen. The symbiote has been a fan favorite for years largely because of his super cool look. The muscle-bound villain/anti-hero has a great logo, an all-black costume and a scary tongue surrounded by a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. The design also employs that tried and true way of making characters look awesome: with white, pupil-less eyes. So how do you make this menacing and fierce looking character look, well, less so? Give him eyes, of course. Have your Venom 'looks awesome' illusions shattered below:
And just like that, this ferocious villain that talks about eating the insides of his victims looks positively absurd and more likely to be mocked and ridiculed than taken as a serious threat. I don't know what it is, but something about the combination of the eyes with the tongue sticking out and Venom looking like he's biting his lower lip just makes him look positively ridiculous. There's an argument that he's even more disturbing this way, but probably not in the way he's meant to be. Clearly Todd McFarlane knew what he was doing when he opted for the all white eyes when designing the character.
After Matthew Gaydos wondered on Twitter what Venom would look like with eyes, others took that ball and ran with it, ensuring that you won't be able to see Venom the same way again. One reply came from someone going full out with the plastic googly eyes look. Check it out:
That is a tough look for Venom. It's difficult to take someone with googly eyes seriously, no matter how badass they look without them. Although now I fully expect Venom to get a fan-made 'Googly Eyes Cut' when it comes to home video. Another person answered what Venom would look like with eyes by showing that perhaps we've already seen it in the How to Train Your Dragon films:
So maybe the eyes just make Venom more lovable and huggable than before, although that might not be the intent of the character. What makes this even funnier is that it somewhat adds insult to injury for this new Venom. Sony's upcoming film appears to be going for a dark and gritty approach with the anti-hero as he struggles with an internal battle, just like in the comics.
However, every look at Venom has brought with it some unintended hilarity at the character's and the film's expense. First there were the cringing reactions from fans at the pronunciation of the word 'symbiote.' Then Elizabeth Banks pointed out that Venom's tongue bears resemblance to... well, something other than a tongue. The newest trailer has gotten a few laughs for its "turd in the wind" line, and now there's googly eyes Venom. Despite all that, while Venom with eyes is hard to unsee, I think once Tom Hardy's Venom starts wrecking shop and talking to Eddie Brock in the new film, we'll forget all about it.
Venom releases in theaters on October 5, 2018. Check out our guide for all of the upcoming Spider-Man spinoffs in Sony's rapidly expanding cinematic universe.
