New Venom Trailer Misses A Major Selling Point of the Character

When Sony’s second trailer for Venom dropped, it certainly proved to be divisive. Director Ruben Fleischer made amends for the initial teaser which showcased a lot of Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) but no full reveal for Venom. In the follow-up clip though, we saw the parasite bonded to Eddie in all its glory, with its ridiculously long, serpent-like tongue and whatnot.

However, one issue which popped up, annoying Venom loyalists was the pronunciation of the word “symbiote." People quickly began debating how it should be pronounced after a scientist working for the Life Foundation pronounced the word as “sym-bye-oat," leaving comic book lovers scouring everything from online dictionaries to science journals to footage form classic Spider-Man cartoons for the correct pronunciation.

Jenny Slater's character sent geeks into a frenzy when she pronounced "symbiote" as “sym-bye-oat" while briefing Eddie on the discovery of the alien entities which would eventually spawn Venom. However, in today's clip, Riz Ahmed's Carlton Drake (head of the Life Foundation) offers his take on the word, and it'll definitely please the diehards.

In describing his project, bonding human hosts to the alien parasites, he says it revolves around, " [...] man and symbiote combined, a new race, a new species... a her life form." In so doing, he pronounces “sym-bee-oat," which is similar to what we've heard for years now, whether it be from the '90s classic Spider-Man animated series to modern cartoons such as Disney's recent Ultimate Spider-Man.

Sure, authors, directors and actors might have their own take on the word, but although both pronunciations are accepted by the Merriam Websters dictionary, folks wanted to say goodbye to the "bye" and hello to the "bee." That's because no matter what, the cartoons will always be held as canon in a case like this.

But while the latest trailer fixed that situation, it leaves fans hungry for Fleischer to fix another "problem" now rearing its head -- Venom's diet.

Twice in the trailer, Venom details his culinary predilections, and he isn't afraid to get explicit. At 1:35, he's assaulting a thug in the street, indicating he's found himself a satisfying dinner, which we saw in the clips prior. This time, however, it's a bit more graphic -- well, verbally, at least. "Eyes, lungs, pancreas... so many snacks, so little time," Venom teases before the trailer cuts away from what we assume will be a yummy meal for the entity.

But there's no mention of his iconic line from the '90s, "We want to eat your brain!" Seriously, eating brains is a huge part of the Venom lore, because it wasn't just a sinister threat. The character was actually drawn to the chemicals in people's brains and needed to feast on it, although later on brains were substituted for chocolate before his eating habits simply faded away.

While we didn't expect to see him eating brains in a trailer, just the mere mention of it would have been a huge easter egg for longtime readers. Even at the end, we see him telling what appears to be a robber, "We will eat both your arms and then both of your legs, and then we will eat your face right off of your head."

Again, despite what appears top be a build designed specifically for dropping a crowd-pleasing line, he doesn't mention adding brains to the menu! Of course, it's possible the gruesome line and maybe even a suitably gory scene will make its way into the final cut. It would be the perfect way of Sony differentiating its universe from Marvel Studios, as a "world that has enough superheroes," truly giving us something fresh yet still loyal to the source material.

Arriving Oct. 5, director Ruben Fleischer’s Venom stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Jenny Slate, Scott Haze, Reid Scott and Riz Ahmed.