Sony's Spider-verse is growing fast, and part of that expanding family is a little movie
about a highly impressionable pile of alien goo who finds a humanoid buddy and changes
his life.
Venom was pulled straight from the pages of Marvel's most 1990s comic books, and true
comic fans were scouring every frame for Easter eggs.
So, what did we find?
John Jameson, astronaut?
Within the first few moments of Venom, we see a spaceship piloted by some ill-fated
members of the Life Foundation crash to Earth.
As local rescue workers dig through the wreckage, they find an astronaut they call "Jameson."
While there's no more context given about who this guy might be, there's only one astronaut
named Jameson in Marvel Comics : John Jameson, the son of Daily Bugle publisher, and occasional
New York City mayor, J. Jonah Jameson.
John spends some time in the comics as the mighty Man-Wolf, and later, Stargod.
Seeing Man-Wolf appear in Sony's rumored Morbius movie would be a Halloween treat better than
a bowl of unguarded king-sized Twix, so let's hope that this was just some lesser astronaut
also named Jameson.
The Daily Globe
Eddie Brock's old employer, the Daily Globe, isn't just some off-brand newspaper name tossed
into Sony's Spider-verse.
Within comic book continuity, the Daily Globe is the very place the Eddie Brock is fired
from after he messes up a story on the Sin-Eater.
While the Globe is only mentioned by name once over dinner, it does come up again later
as Eddie searches for work.
One of the people he texts is Barney Bushkin, the publisher of the Globe, who probably fired
Brock in the first place for his crimes against journalism.
Bushkin carries a long-running grudge against rival publisher J. Jonah Jameson, once even
abducting him with a robot and threatening him with a fake gun in Peter Parker: The Spectacular
Spider-Man Annual #1.
Bushkin is clearly not a guy to mess with.
She's a lady
Once the name Anne Weying popped onto Venom's cast of characters, symbiote enthusiasts the
world over wondered if she'd follow comic book continuity and slip into something slithery.
She-Venom fans rejoice, because Anne Weying does indeed briefly appear as a female version
of Venom.
That's not a good thing, though.
In the Venom : Sinner Takes All miniseries, the symbiote bonds with her to save her life…
but also takes her on an incredibly violent killing spree.
Eddie, ever supportive, assures her that she was probably more responsible than Venom for
the mess.
So, by the time Amazing Spider-Man #2 comes around, the memory of the experience is so
traumatizing that she climbs a building and leaps to her death.
Anne's reaction to chomping on someone's head on the big screen isn't much more than mild
revulsion — but come on, there are rockets to stop.
Think big picture.
Death by chocolate
Venom has a pretty healthy appetite, which includes tater tots both frozen and burnt,
trash chicken, live lobsters and dogs, and human organs.
"Eyes, lungs, pancreas.
So many snacks, so little time."
So, it may come as a small surprise when Venom asks for chocolate at the end of the film.
But yes, that's also from the comics.
In the Venom: The Hunger miniseries, Marvel's number one gloopy boy expresses a distaste
for normal, human food, and his hunger for human brains awakens.
It's not just a gritty 1990s comic book choice, it's science.
The thing that the Venom symbiote actually craves from brains is phenylethylamine, a
human neurotransmitter.
Coincidentally, that organic compound is also found in chocolate.
The compound also happens to be in various types of shellfish, so those raw lobsters
Eddie chowed down on were a pretty good choice, too.
Stan the Man, again
It's no surprise that Stan Lee makes one of his trademark cameos in Venom, walking a small
dog near the end of the movie.
Stan is more or less a minor hero in the MCU, as well as the Spider-verse, keeping children
safe on school buses, delivering packages safely, and even keeping casino chips safe
for easily-distracted heroes.
"You know what?
I think I'll just take these, bring them over here, and hold on for safe keeping."
He's so great that he has stories to tell the Watchers, who literally know everything
that ever happened and will happen.
Giving Eddie Brock advice on love is just the most recent of his heroic feats.
Carnage
Of course, there's the end-credits appearance of Woody Harrelson's Cletus Kasady.
Comic fans already know that Kasady becomes Carnage, a pretty violent villain and one
of many symbiotes in the Marvel Universe.
Whether or not a wandering symbiote found its way into Kasady by the end of Venom is
unclear, though it stands to reason that if something as wickedly powerful as Carnage
was present, Kasady wouldn't be quietly sitting in a cell.
The symbiote's signature move is having razor-sharp blades for hands, after all.
Those straps mean nothing.