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Recently, it seems that Sony is playing Venom’s origin story pretty close to the chest, omitting scenes in the film that would have revealed more about his species and homeworld. Not completely, however, there are some interesting hints that the film makes with regards to Venom’s people and their role in future films. It can be hard to navigate the discrepancies between the Venom’s comic book and film canon. I mean we get that they’re aliens but what exactly are the symbiotes? What purpose do they have in coming to Earth? Are humans the only hosts they’ve come into contact with? To that I say have no fear, your friendly neighbourhood film junkies have you covered!
We’re investigating into the history and origins of the symbiotes in the comics and drawing parallels with the film, and seeing how this information is significant to the character. So grab your Life Foundation equipment or superpowered parasite because we’re heading to the planet of the symbiotes!
Origin and History
Before we proceed into the world of the symbiotes, you should probably note that the world of comic books is ever-shifting landscape. Changes made to characters’ histories or ret-cons are highly common. They pretty much happen every five years. Therefore, for the sake of this analysis, we’ll be taking the most recent and updated history of the world of the symbiotes. Let’s go.
It all started with one character…like he was kind of only thing in the universe, Knull. We’ve discussed him before and his place in Venom comics and it’s pretty big. He’s an ancient god of darkness that was driven out of his home by Celestials and gods. As more life started cropping up, the more his kingdom diminished. He created two weapons. The first was All-Black, a sword-like weapon made from the shadow that he used to murder gods. A weapon that he lost when battling another god. The second weapon was the symbiote, an extension of essence that he could use to possess other life forms. Soon he had a whole army of them!
He started conquering worlds and taking over the local populace. He could control them light years away using a telepathic link. A link that was broken when Thor defeated one of his creatures he sent to Earth. At that moment, his creation rebelled against him because they had bonded with hosts that infected with ideas of good and honour. Knull called this infection a “venom”! They sealed him away at the heart of a planet made of symbiotes called Klyntar which means cage in their language. In time they would begin to call themselves Klyntar. They began propagating the lie that the Klyntar is a noble and just race that sought out of the greatest warriors in the universe to make them intergalactic defenders. They even formed a peacekeeping corp called Agents of the Cosmos that consists of hosts of multiple species bonded to the Klyntar.
At this point you may be asking this question: If that’s the case, then why are most of the Klyntar depicted as violent savages? The Klyntar are incredibly temperamental creatures. They can easily become feral if their hosts are filled with hatred or rage. Those who were corrupted were exiled from the wider Klyntar empire.
Enter The Venomverse
Speaking of corrupted symbiotes, it just so happens that Venom in the comics was one of them. He used to be a member of the Agents of the Cosmos before one of his hosts corrupted him. That’s why when he bonded to Spider-Man and Eddie Brock, they became more aggressive. Now in the cinematic universe, the lore could deviate from the original source material. In the film, Venom and the supposed symbiote leader Riot reference an army of symbiotes lying out in space. An invasion force that the Riot bonded Carlton Drake tries to bring back to Earth using a rocket he created. Venom, changed by his time with Brock, decides to thwart Riot’s plan of world domination by destroying it. End of story, right? Wrong, this raises a bunch of other questions.
Is the invasion force that Venom and Riot referenced the true Klyntar race that defeated Knull? Or is it a collective of rebel, feral symbiotes that broke off the empire to form their own faction? More importantly, will Sony remain faithful to the symbiotes’ comic book origins? Sadly, we don’t have an answer and even if we did get our hands on the cut footage, who is to say it’s still part of the Venomverse. This ambiguity is intentional. It seems that Sony wants to slowly unravel the world of Venom instead of giving us one long explanation. I also suspect that Sony is doing this to avoid having written themselves into a corner with the character and universe. That way, they can still play around with the backstory of the Venomverse without having to break continuity. Warner Bros and Disney have been doing something similar to that effect, in pacing out the lore in their films. One thing’s for sure, this isn’t the last we’ll be hearing about the planet of the symbiotes.
So what do you guys think about symbiote homeworld? Do you think it should have been shown in Venom? Should Sony stick to the film’s comic book roots or create their own history? Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comment section and follow us for more Venom news and updates.
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