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Tag: Venom
Venom: The Last Dance – Is it Really the End?
Venom’s final movie is out, but is this truly the end for Eddie Brock and his Symbiotic pal? And what’s this I hear about an Agent Venom movie? Is Knull still a threat!? Find out in today’s Merry Marvel Mayhem!
Venom: The Last Dance definitely could have been a lot better. As the final installment in this Venom trilogy, I feel like it just didn’t deliver on that big finale feeling. With attention divided between too many new characters, a reason for the title character to be absent most of the movie, and the lack of real connective tissue to the first two movies, The Last Dance just couldn’t stack up to the rest of the trilogy. Rumors of an Agent Venom movie are swirling, I personally think Sony needs to stop, but I guess we’ll see. I mean, Knull has to fight someone…
What’d you think True Believers? Am I wrong? Is this actually the best of the three movies? Vote in the poll below and let me know what you thought in the comments! That’s it for now, Face Front True Believers, and I’ll see you in the Multiverse!
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 SDCC Panel
Insomniac just did their Symbiotic Relationships San Diego Comic-Con panel and, boy, was it a success.
Okay, so first, can we talk about this trailer?
Because, wow. This game looks massive. In size, scope, just big. A few things, in no particular order:
– Who knew Martin Li was coming back? Because I sure as shock didn’t!
– Venom looks completely terrifying. Tony Todd and the design definitely help with that.
– Miles and MJ rocking fresh new cuts. Miles looking 92+8, and MJ favoring her comic counterpart a little more with the gorgeous flowing red hair (as many of you may know, I’m an MJ guy, leave me alone and let me have this!)
– Did you catch those Coney Island ride names? Hydro Bench (Hydro Man’s real name is Morris Bench), Speed Demon, and Big Wheel!
– The scene where both Spider-Men flip off the roof and start swinging… like, dude, just take my money already.
– So is that Grizzly, or just a bear-themed Kraven goon? Because it’d be pretty cool if it was Grizzly.
– I think I saw Wraith. I don’t know, did you guys see Wraith? Standing menacingly in front of the fire at around 1:07?
– Lizard’s sonic scream was definitely affecting the Symbiote, so they’re keeping sound as a weakness.
– MJ hiding from Symbiote Spider-Man… just… dang. Is it that bad?
– I have a bad feeling about Harry…
They don’t need to do anymore marketing. I’m sold. Like I said, take my money!
Oh, and speaking of taking money, they announced a limited edition PS5! With a controller, launching September 1, check it:
THANKFULLY, they are also selling the plates and controller separately, so I don’t have to buy an entirely new PlayStation just because they put a Spider-Man logo on it… again…
They confirmed some things on the panel. This is 9-10 months after Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Peter and Miles have their thing down to a science. Peter is trying to balance a new job and keep May’s house from foreclosing. MJ’s job is on the line because JJJ is back at the Bugle and cleaning house. Miles is procrastinating on college prep because he wants to do more Spider-Man. Stuff established in the prequel comic basically.
They also said that this is a human story about a man giving in to the darkness and what that does to his friends and family. Like the old Spider-Man 3 teaser trailer adage, “How long can any man fight the darkness before he finds it in himself.” Truly great stuff. I’m still very concerned about that shot of MJ hiding from Peter. I mean… they said this joint was going to be dark, but dang.
Tony Todd was very excited. Especially about the Collector’s Edition statue. Yuri Lowenthal did the Bully Maguire dance. Nadji Jeter is a professional hype man. They all love each other and I’m here for it. Be Greater. Together.
The long and short of it, I’m excited, and I wish I could play it now. But what did you guys think? Let me know down below! Face Front True Believers, and I’ll see you in the Multiverse!
Dark Dimension Chapter 6: Ultimates
Welcome Back!
It’s been a while True Believers. A year, actually, but at last, Secret Wars Dark Dimension has returned! Nick Fury and Red Skull are duking it out with their allies Doctor Strange and Dormammu to reforge the Tesseract and use it to create a new world! I finally intend on wrapping up the Secret Wars, and I can’t wait for you all to see the epic conclusion! So enough of me talking, read below for all the details on Chapter 6: Ultimates!
The Story
The Secret War is over! There is only the Dark Dimension! In this new, narrative based version of Secret Wars, players will follow Nick Fury and Doctor Strange, or Red Skull and Dormammu, as they traverse the desolate Dark Dimension in hopes of changing reality to either save, or enslave, the Marvel Universe.
Chapter 6: Ultimates, reveals that S.H.I.E.L.D. has claimed the fifth shard of the Tesseract! This has been reflected in the progress bar on the Dark Dimension Homepage:
Fury and Skull are headed to Brooklyn this month! Season 8 of the original Secret Wars continues here, and this time we’ll get to see the epic battle between Miles Morales, the Ultimate Spider-Man, and Venom!
Playing Dark Dimension
Players need only view the story in both Multiverses, then decide who in the end will receive a shard of the Tesseract! The team with the most votes by August 26, 2022 will receive a shard, and bring the Tesseract closer to completion. You must Log In/Register in order to vote! This ensures everyone only votes once, and makes you eligible to win the Dark Dimension Prize Bundle! (More info below).
You can start right now! To check out S.H.I.E.L.D.’s story from Miles Morales Ultimate Spider-Man’s point of view, CLICK HERE!
To see HYDRA’s story from the Venom’s perspective, CLICK HERE!
To go to the Dark Dimension Homepage, a hub where you can choose S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA, view the Tesseract status, read the Prequel Comic, and keep up on updates, CLICK HERE!
Side Quests
Don’t forget to do the Side Quests! The energies of the Dark Dimension have distorted the pages of the Book of Vishanti and the Darkhold! Play these side quests to unscramble the tales of Secret Wars past, and reveal new pages of these ancient tomes!
Page 5 has been revealed fully, so if you didn’t get a chance to decipher it, or the puzzle was just too hard, you can read it now! Page 6 is up to be decoded, and uses clues from Secret Wars Season 8!
CLICK HERE to play the Book of Vishanti Side Quest!
CLICK HERE to play the Darkhold Side Quest!
Prize Bundle
If you want a chance to win all the sweet merch below as well, you can! It’s easy!
Simply by voting S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA, you will be automatically entered into the running to win a variety of digital and physical prizes!
Digital prizes include:
- Exclusive Wallpaper
- 2 Exclusive Avatars
- Digital Copy of Amazing Spider-Man (1999) #58
Physical prizes include:
- Nick Fury Chibi Keychain by AllyCharms
- Tesseract Shard
Please note that any player may only win the prize bundle ONCE in the year 2022, and that the physical prizes are limited to the US only!
So what are waiting for True Believers? Start Playing Secret Wars: Dark Dimension now! Face Front, and I’ll see you in the Dark Dimension!
Toys to Comics: VENOMIZED #1
In honor of us getting the full title for the Venom sequel, now officially called Venom: Let There be Carnage, I decided to do Face Front’s second ever Toys to Comics featuring Carnage and Venom!
This cover is a variant of Venomized #1 (2018) by Kalman Andrasofszky. It was made for C2E2 and apparently there’s only 3,000 of them. I’m lucky enough to own one! Since this cover prominently features both Carnage and Venom, I thought it’d be a fun one to bring to life using none other than Hasbro’s Marvel Legends!
I used the recently released Monster Venom Deluxe Figure because he seems more appropriate size-wise the way he’s represented on this cover. The Carnage is actually the one from the 2014 Amazing Spider-Man 2 Ultimate Goblin wave. Mostly because my Monster Venom wave Carnage had the Kletus Cassidy head and the axe hand and I wasn’t trying to dig out the correct pieces!
The Spider-Man head in the background is actually a giant inflatable Infinity War Iron Spider! It was the biggest Spider-Man head I had, and my cloud pillow just looked awkward… Pretty neat, right? Right?? Don’t judge me!
So there you have it! Let there be Carnage! That’s it for now! Face Front True Believers, and I’ll see you in the Multiverse!
Guys, Venom Does Not NEED to be Rated R!
I mean, come on guys. Are we really gonna act like Venom absolutely CANNOT be done if it’s PG-13? Seriously, does it matter if Eddie Brock is getting busy with his girl on screen and dropping f-bombs every 30 seconds? No, it doesn’t. But that’s not the concern, is it? No, the concern is the violence.
People, Venom doesn’t need to be hyper violent! And PG-13 movies aren’t the Spider-Man 90’s series where they couldn’t throw a punch and had to say someone was ‘destroyed’ rather than ‘killed’! They can get away with A LOT now a days in PG-13 movies. And even if it was the 90’s series, the Venom arc in that show was awesome! With no blood and guts! It’s about story people! Now, what a Venom story without Spider-Man looks like, your guess is as good as mine. But they’ve nailed Venom’s character, look (spider emblem not withstanding) and voice from what we’ve seen so far. So can we please stop pretending that Venom NEEDS to be rated R? It doesn’t. And you know it doesn’t. So stop.
Welcome to Marvel City
Hasbro, eat your heart out! Welcome to the future! Welcome, to Marvel City! I had time, I was bored, so why not?
Looks like All-New, All-Different Spider-Man has a bird’s eye of the entire scene below!
A city of heroes…
Bound by honor…
To protect it at all costs!
Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty and the First Avenger, never relents in the fight against the forces of HYDRA!
Black Bolt has something to say, and when he talks, people listen!
Wasp patrols the skies, while Thor summons strength from Odin in Asgard above! And Star-Lord’s always ready for action! But where’d his tunes go?
Of course, no one stands a chance when Iron Man and War Machine team up to take down the bad guys!
Lifelong friends Spider-Woman and Captain Marvel are two women you DO NOT want to mess with! Unless you want a venom blast and a cosmic punch to the face! And is that Vision phasing through the ground behind them?
Speaking of Venom, what rock did this Sinister Symbiote crawl from under?
Falcon soars high, but a particularly sneaky Black Cat gets away with some pilfered goods! Oh Felicia, will you ever learn?
By the Ruby Rings of the Crimson Bands of the Hoary Hosts… Whatever! Doctor Strange is here to make with the hocus pocus!
Black Widow gives Hawkeye a lift on her sweet ride, they always worked better as a team! Let’s just hope that Ms. Marvel can stop fangirling long enough to Embiggen!
‘Ol J. Jonah Jameson isn’t too happy with all these superheroes tearing things up outside of Bugle offices! It doesn’t help that Giant-Man is mocking him either…
There are tales… legends of a Spirit of Vengeance… The Ghost Rider, making the best of a deal with the devil!
What did Deadpool get himself into this time? Maybe a certain Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Mad Titan wasn’t too fond of Lady Death’s fascination with this clown…
Looks like the newest Spider-Man on the block, Miles Morales, snagged a classic Spidey baddy, the Shocker! Great job Miles!
Meanwhile, the Immortal Iron Fist has engaged the terrible Taskmaster in combat! Don’t use your best moves Danny, you know he can copy them!
Storm and Silk watch over the city, a valiant long-time member of the X-Men, and a Spider trying to find her place in the world after 10 years away…
Bravery is not measured in size, and Rocket and Baby Groot prove that throwing down with one of the biggest Marvel villains out there, the Rhino!
But there are always bigger Marvel villains, lurking in the distance…
But here to protect his city is none other than Daredevil! Keeping a watchful… ear, from above! And Spider-Gwen aka Ghost Spider doesn’t look stressed, she’s listening to the latest hit from her band the Mary Janes! Wait… there’s Star-Lord’s tunes! Dang it Gwen!
But down below, titans clash, as Hulk pins down one of his worst foes, the Abomination!
This Marvel power couple knows no bounds, Cyclops and Phoenix are always here to save the day, and mutant-kind!
And bow down (wait, they don’t do that there…) for the King of Wakanda, Black Panther! With Okoye by his side, nothing’s getting past him! Wakanda forever!
So there you have it. Heroes…
That swore to fight.
To stand for justice.
To Assemble. In our darkest hours.
And to let us know, that they will always be here.
Marvel’s Spider-Man has Become Just as Good as Spectacular Spider-Man!
Marvel’s Spider-Man is a relatively new show that began airing last year, and while people agree it’s not bad, no one has called it spectacular. Literally. The Spectacular Spider-Man, a show that aired March 8, 2008 (How do I know the exact date? Because it was my birthday!) is said by many to be the best Spider-Man show to date. This is a pretty universal opinion. I myself feel like it’s the 90’s series, but that’s neither here nor there. But yesterday marked Marvel’s Spider-Man’s first appearance of the classic Spidey foe Venom. And yes, I know that Venom showed up in the first season, but this is VENOM! I mean, Eddie Brock + Symbiote = Spider-hating powerhouse! And when I was watching this episode, a thought crossed my mind: This is just as good as the Venom debut episode in Spectacular Spider-Man. Blasphemy! Heresy! I know, I know, but first, before you lambaste me, hear me out. In this article, I’m going to match up these two episodes: Dead Man’s Party and Nature vs. Nurture. Hopefully, by the end, you’ll see what I do. I literally pulled out my old Spectacular Spider-Man DVDs and re-watched the episode just so that it was fresh in my mind, so I put in the work for this one! Here’s what I found.
The Premise
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Peter turns in Spidey footage to Jameson that is far superior to Brock’s, and not only does Jameson put Eddie on blast, but he gives Peter his assignment on the V2-52 (The Symbiote in this show). Eddie gets steamed, even after Peter surrenders the assignment, and states that he always comes out on top. While on the assignment, Eddie sneaks into the lab, but the V2-52 gets loose, and bonds with him.
Spectacular Spider-Man: Having lost the Symbiote (Because Spider-Man was wearing it), the Conners family can no longer pay Eddie, so he’s let go. Eddie, who already doesn’t trust Peter, walks in on Spider-Man destroying the Symbiote, and blames him for taking his last chance. The Symbiote, still alive, then bonds with Brock, and he vows vengeance on Spider-Man.
First off, all of the setup in the Spectacular Spider-Man was in the previous episode. So walking in to the two episodes I’m comparing, you literally have no clue why Eddie hates Peter and Spider-Man. But that’s why so many people love Spectacular, because of the overarching story, which I won’t fault it for. While Spectacular took the Ultimate comics route of making Peter and Eddie childhood friends whose parents died together, Marvel’s Spider-Man ran with the tried and true Daily Bugle competitors. And honestly, you don’t need a whole season to tell that story. In several previous episodes, we’ve seen Jameson praise Peter’s work, resulting in an annoyed grunt from Eddie, but this episode is where they truly butt heads.
The Plot
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Peter and Miles want to throw a party while Aunt May is out of town. Peter is apprehensive, but Miles turns him around. They invite all of Horizon High, but Flash decides to throw a party the same night. So aside from Gwen, Anya, Aleski, and awkwardly Max Modell, not much is happening when suddenly the power goes out…
Spectacular Spider-Man: It’s Thanksgiving, and all of Midtown is prepping for the big parade. Meanwhile, Peter is preoccupied making sure Aunt May is okay, after the recent heart attack she’s suffered. Fresh out of the black suit, he quits working for Tombstone, and tries to get a jump on Thanksgiving dinner, but is not doing too well. He then finds the Gene Cleanser from the Lizard episode he kept, and ponders his actions as Spider-Man. Suddenly, he’s pulled out of the window by a web…
The plots of the episodes are not that far off from each other. One’s focused around a party, one’s focused around a holiday. Of course Spectacular holds more emotional weight because Aunt May is recovering from a heart attack, but again, just based on the two episodes and no previous context, they match up pretty equally.
Venom Attacks
Marvel’s Spider-Man:
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Peter finds Eddie in his room. He talks about Peter’s privilege, then attacks him.
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Peter flees to protect his friends, Venom pursues.
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Not able to find Peter, Venom threatens to return to the party, but is soon confronted by Spider-Man.
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Spider-Man tries to convince the V2-52 to take him back, but it doesn’t work.
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Spidey and Venom fight, loud noises fail to stop Venom, but Miles shows up with flash bangs.
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After a fight with Spider-Man and Miles, Venom escapes.
Spectacular Spider-Man:
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Venom beats and restrains Peter at his house, then threatens to go after everyone he loves.
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Peter meets Venom at the hospital and fights to protect Aunt May. Venom gives up, claiming he knows who Peter loves most.
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Spider-Man stakes out the parade, keeping an eye on Mary Jane because Brock had gone out with her to hurt Peter, but Gwen is the real target and gets strung up to a balloon.
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Spidey and Venom fight, Spidey trying to save Gwen the entire time.
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Eddie talks about Peter’s privilege, and the Midtown students save Gwen.
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Peter convinces the Symbiote to take him back, but it’s a trick. He leaves Eddie unconscious on the roof and buries the Symbiote in cement.
Do you see! In both, Peter tried to get the Symbiote back. In both, Eddie talked about Peter having more than he did. In both, Venom attacks Peter at home and threatens his loved ones! And each had an added bonus the other didn’t. We got more of a suspenseful thriller in Spectacular as Venom chased after Peter’s loved ones (complete with jump scares). And in Marvel’s Spider-Man we got an action packed team-up with Miles and Spidey vs. Venom! One thing I did find strange about Spectacular is that Spidey never tried sound, even though he knew that was the Symbiote’s weakness. The biggest difference, however, is that in one Spider-Man defeated Venom, and in the other he escaped. Now, Venom was the season finale villain in Spectacular, and, I mean, who better, but by putting Venom in the middle of the season, Marvel’s Spider-Man can continue the story, and who knows what kind of damage Venom can do!
End Tag
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Venom vows that he’s just getting started, and reminds us that he know’s Peter is Spider-Man.
Spectacular Spider-Man: Before she leaves Peter’s house after a Thanksgiving dinner, Gwen kisses Peter, Venom’s voice echoing “We know who you love the most.”
Both of those are anticipatory wait and see moments. Wait and see how Peter will address Gwen kissing him, and wait and see what torment Venom has in store for Spidey. One, I unfortunately had to wait half a year for, because it was the season finale and Spectacular Spider-Man had to move to Disney XD. With the other, however, I get my answers next week! But I can honestly say that I’m just as excited on an adrenaline level for Marvel’s Spider-Man as I was on an emotional level for Spectacular Spider-Man all those years ago.
So as you can see, these episodes are not so different. I enjoyed Dead Man’s Party just as much as Nature vs. Nurture. Marvel’s Spider-Man may not have the emotional heft or long term storytelling that Spectacular Spider-Man did. But it is a darn good show, and I think it has finally reached a point where it can be considered at least equal to its predecessor. I really hope that people will begin to see that. But don’t take it from me! Go watch this episode if you already haven’t and see for yourself! Then you let me know.
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