While the symbiote anti-hero Venom looked a lot like his comic book counterpart in 2018’s Venom, Eddie Brock and his alien pal almost had a much creepier look for their solo cinematic debut.
Jared Krichevsky, a character designer and Creature visual developer, posted some early unused concept art that show how frightening the alien creature could have been.
Here’s a design I did for Venom early in development. The movie was some good silly fun.
In his drawings, Krichevsky keeps Venom’s broad frame and muscular physique, but makes the symbiotes’ overall essence seem less solid. It’s a more fluid look with the symbiote’s flesh quivering over its host body and tendrils protruding from selective places. He also gave Venom an extended prehensile jaw filled with teeth and an extra-long tongue.
Combined with the almost-bloodshot eyes, the artwork gives Venom an unhinged, almost psychotic look that almost makes it look like Carange, Venom’s psychotic symbiotic spawn.
Although the Venom filmmakers ultimately went a different direction than what was seen in Krichevsky’s sketches, the film still proved to be a surprise hit in 2018. The Sony film got mixed reviews from critics but accumulated an impressive $855 million at the box office.
Despite the noticeable changes to the characters appearance and origin story, namely the absence of the iconic white spider symbol on its chest and Venom’s connection to Spider-Man,the relationship between the Venom symbiote and Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock was still well-received.
With Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady arrival in the film’s post-credits scene, this concept art could even be a tease of what Carnage might look like with he appears in Venom’s currently in development sequel.