Venom has always been a popular member of Spider-Man's supporting cast. What began as a simple costume change for Marvel Comics web-slinger has evolved into a character that can headline his own event and exist mostly outside of the orbit of his heroic adversary. This year has seen the dark wall-crawler lead the charge on multiple fronts, starring in a solo comic while also setting the stage for the upcoming Venomverse adventure, and it's all leading up to October's solo movie starring Tom Hardy.

Sony's standalone feature film will present the latest version of the character's origin story to audiences, which has left some people asking... why? It will set Venom up as someone who stands apart from Spider-Man from the get-go, and as such, longtime fans are a bit leery about whether it can succeed. While it remains to be seen whether the film is a success, one major obstacle is that the Venom origin story has only been told successfully twice; the original comic book version, and the one we saw on The Spectacular Spider-Man.

RELATED: The Venom Movie Shouldn't Show Too Much Venom

This month marks the ten-year anniversary of the animated CW and Disney XD series. The show drew influence from a variety of Spider-Man comics over the decades, a nowhere is this more apparent than the way the show developed the relationship between the webhead and his dark archenemy.

Typically, the relationship between Spider-Man and Eddie Brock involves Spidey humiliating Eddie while the hero possesses the black symbiote, with the alien later making its way to Brock so they can ruin both the personal and superhero aspects of Peter's life. And sure enough, that's what happens in Spectacular's two season of animated episodes, but there's something more, well, intimate about the way the relationship between the two characters shakes out. The show draws inspiration from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, making Peter Parker and Eddie childhood friends as a result of their parents working together. When their parents died in a plane crash, Eddie grew up without the support system Peter did, though he buried his jealousy by being the big brother Peter needed growing up, protecting him from bullies in high school.

What makes Eddie's anger towards Peter more understandable is that most of his beef with his younger friend start cropping up even before the black suit eventually comes into play. Eddie's issues begin early in the series when Peter decides to take pictures of himself as Spider-Man fighting against Eddie's boss, Curt Connors after he transformed himself into the Lizard. By the time Peter's wearing the Symbiote, he's already pissed off Eddie just through blowing off his friends and rejecting Gwen Stacy's invitation to their school dance.

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Other%20Cartoons%20Have%20Failed%20Venom%20-%20And%20The%20Movie%20May%2C%20Too']

Since Spectacular's cancelation, succeeding shows have tried to follow suit on having Venom be a more personal enemy to Spider-Man; the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon did away with Eddie Brock completely and had the first Venom be Harry Osborn. It's a bold decision, sure, but one that doesn't entirely work. It's basically just a palette swap because the show didn't want two Goblins running around, and Harry as Venom can't really be the kind of enemy for Peter in the ways that Eddie can. Harry always has to ultimately be fighting Peter because of things his former friend truly had some hand in taking away from him, whether that be the love of his father, Norman, or Gwen Stacy, who both men dated.

By having Eddie be a true constant in Peter's life, as opposed to some guy he just meets randomly as an adult, it makes the eventual battle between them more personal and tragic. He's able to mess with Peter on a much deeper level because the two of them grew up together. Thus, Eddie can target all aspects of Peter's life, from outing him at the Daily Bugle to attacking Gwen and Aunt May to really get under Peter's skin.

RELATED: Is Venom Taking Inspiration from Ultimate Spider-Man?

Spectacular serves as such an excellent origin story for Venom, it makes the upcoming movie's decision to have Eddie be some random adult all the more baffling. There's an interesting way to make the character work in a solitary capacity, but by excising Peter's involvement from his origin just makes Eddie another bad guy that Peter will just have to tangle with as opposed to an intimate adversary.

Tom Hardy's portrayal of Brock will probably be fine, but there's something to be said about the way that Ben Diskin's voice work in Spectacular carries Eddie's character growth. Diskin sells the changes that Eddie goes through in both seasons, particularly the desperation he has when he loses the power of the Symbiote. For those that thought Topher Grace didn't have the right physicality for the look or think that Tom Hardy looks too tough to really throw hands with a teenager, Diskin's Brock is a happy combination of both -- desperate for the love of a creature that just wants to use him to get back at its ex, while also cocky and has the toughness to hold his own.

As the Lethal Protector's solo film draws closer, Marvel is undoubtedly going to highlight the best stories from his decades of existence. Spectacular Spider-Man was by no means a niche show, but it's been so long that throwing it some love and highlighting the Venom-specific episodes would go a long way.