Sony and "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" scribe Alex Kurtzman will reboot the character of Venom in its own spin-off film, and fans should expect a "much darker" version of the character last played by Topher Grace in "Spider-Man 3."
Kurtzman will write the script for "Venom" that will expand the Spider-Man universe. The film will join a potential "Sinister Six" movie and a female-driven spin-off.
"The idea is that you can do things with Venom that you can't do with Spider-Man," Kurtzman told MTV News at the premiere for his new CBS series "Scorpion."
Venom has a mixed history of heroics and villainy in the Marvel comic series. He made a cameo appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #299 (1988) before receiving a full introduction in the next issue.
In human form, Venom is disgraced reporter Eddie Brock who bonds with a transforming alien suit to become an even greater version of Spider-Man. Brock and the suit both hate the web slinging superhero.
"Venom is the representation of every line that will get crossed," Kurtzman said. "He's a much darker character."
The "Star Trek" and "Transformers" screenwriter thinks Sony's Spider-man universe has even more potential than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His assessment seems to include the previous Sam Raimi-Topher Grace franchise.
"You know, Spider-Man has the benefit of having so many more movies than even some of the movies that have 2's and 3's in front of them from Marvel," Kurtzman said.
He also has confidence in the main "Amazing Spider-Man" franchise as long as the story remains "true" to the character of Peter Parker and his alter-ego.
"I think as long as it keeps staying true to character, and true to who Peter is, and putting him in interesting and complication situations, it'll survive," Kurtzman said. "Because it's so beloved - everybody loves Spider-Man."
Everybody may love Spider-Man, but many fans weren't thrilled about the latest installment. Leading man Andrew Garfield was proud of the sequel, but was disappointed that "deep scenes" where he got to explore his character were eventually cut.
"Certain people had problems with certain parts of it, and ultimately the studio is the final say in those movies because they're the tentpoles, so you have to answer to those people," Garfield told The Daily Beast.
