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?!
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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