'Venom' Film Will Have Character Be a Hero

Following up on yesterday’s news that “Spider-Man 4” scribe Gary Ross will write and direct the “Venom” spin-off; new details about the plot and story direction have emerged.

Variety is reporting that the new film will transform Venom into “an anti-hero who becomes a defender of the innocent.”

The move seems reminiscent of the '90s era “Venom” comics that cast the character as a “Lethal Protector.” However, it should be noted that while the reinvention of the character was initially successful, his popularity started to fade shortly thereafter.

Since the new movie is starting “from the drawing board," it’s not certain whether Topher Grace will reprise his role as Venom’s alter-ego, Eddie Brock. [SPOILER ALERT!] With Brock’s demise at the end of “Spider-Man 3,” it will be interesting to see if his resurrection is explained in the film or if the events of the previous movie will simply be ignored.

Even though Marvel Entertainment was just acquired by Disney in a $4 billion deal, Columbia Pictures is able to turn Venom loose in a film because the studio holds rights in perpetuity not only to Spider-Man but the villains in his universe. Columbia has been developing a“Venom” picture for some several years thanks to this deal.

Venom becomes the first Spidey character to be given his own film. Spin-offs are becoming popular lately, especially by Fox which has several Marvel characters used in other movies now being in planned spin-offs after the big hit "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." That studio is also working on "Silver Surfer," a character which appeared in Fox's "Fantastic Four" sequel, and "Deadpool," a character introduced in "Wolverine."

As director Sam Raimi preps for a 2010 production start on “Spider-Man 4,” writer Jamie Vanderbilt is currently scripting the fifth and sixth installments, films which could possibly amount to a re-boot with new creative elements.

At this point, there is no date set for the release of the “Venom” film. However, given the speed of the most recent announcements, further news may be coming soon.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: MTV News, Variety