Personally, I have little doubt that Spider-Man 3 is going to use me as an emotional ashtray - and I can't wait.
Want to know how many of these shots actually figure into the film overall? This is all real, genuine, big spoiler stuff.
"Read on if you dare..."
Where does Venom come from? Well, the symbiote clings to Peter after a date with MJ - like gum on his shoe to begin with, almost. As he sleeps, covers him - we see this in the trailer. When he wakes up, he's hanging upside down on the side of a building - much like the final shot in the teaser. It's the old werewolf thing - but used to dramatise Peter's internal conflict. Venom adopts an appearance like the red/blue Spidey suit because Peter is wearing it when it covers him - though he's not wearing the mask, so there's a little dramatic license at play. Tut tut - can do better, Mr. Raimi. See me after class.
Before getting on Peter, the symbiote has a rather 50's sci-fi origin, not unlike that of The Blob. It looks like Raimi has had a lot of fun with this element of the story.
Okay - back to the plot. How does Eddie Brock become Venom? Well, when Spidey is "caught" by the symbiote, Brock follows this Venom character to a church bell tower. He's both trying to upstage Peter's coverage in the Bugle, and also twist the knife into Spidey. Here, Peter manages to overcome the symbiote and rip himself free of the suit, but some of it falls onto Brock. That is, of course, all he needs to soon "become" Venom. We see plenty of shots from this sequence in the teaser, including Brock's discovery of who is inside the suit just before the symbiote gets onto him.
The Venom-Brock does not look exactly like the Venom-Spidey, but more organic, more like the comic book Venom. This is, apparently, due to the fact that Spidey had the red/blue suit on, Brock does not. Peter's split into two-halves in so many ways (Peter/Spidey, Spidey/Venom-Spidey, Peter/Dark Peter) that it would get confusing if the metaphorical values of each wasn't so clear.
For most of the film, Spider-Man is in pursuit of Flint Marko, The Sandman, but we begin with an early Green Goblin/Spider-Man show-down - some of which is seen in the trailer - shot at night-time, Harry's face is exposed clearly in most shots, you see him fly into the wall fist first. It is only at the end of the film that Spidey faces off against Venom. Thankfully, Harry herein comes to his aid in Green Goblin guise, showing that he too has won his own internal conflict much like Peter has. Hurrah for Harry.
Sadly, though, Harry is killed. Tears for Harry.
Aunt May also dies within he film's running time. Trust me, you don't want to know when and where.
Apparently, MJ does NOT die. I know I was expecting her to go, but if she does, it is somehow being kept an even bigger secret than the rest of these details.
All the business in the trailer with the ring? Well, apparently, there's much ado about that piece of jewellery - and at one point, it even ends up in a pawn shop. The romance storylines from 1 and 2 are every bit as much of 3 - maybe more so.
The Venom-Brock villain is conclusively dispatched, though the symbiote itself survives - so whatever hack is handed the series after Raimi leaves (taking Maguire and Dunst with him, no doubt) will be able to resurrect some kind of Venom villain.
Dark Spidey, as it were - Peter before he has overcome Venom - is the one who courts Gwen Stacey. Problems in the relationship with MJ, as well as professional issues - both as a photographer and crime-fighting webslinger, as it were - compound to bring him down. Real down. Even downer than last time. That's how Raimi, Sargent and co are using Venom - as a dramatic device to show Peter not just giving up on his great responsibility, but getting drunk on his great power.
Venom-Spidey fights some robbers, The Sandman and the Green Goblin before Peter dispels it in the bell-tower.
There are scenes inside Curt Connor's lab, where he studies the symbiote, and these scenes are also used to set up the research that will, in the character's story - though not in this movie - turn him into The Lizard. Take these teasing references more as tantalising morsels for the fanboy piranhas than concrete set-up for any subsequent film, however.
Spidey's fights with the Sandman not only take place in the Armoured Car chase so well covered on this blog (I was on set for much of the shooting) but also, I am told, in the subway. The final fight, the four-way rumble with Spidey, The Sandman, Venom and Harry as the Green Goblin, takes place in a construction site.
The extra villain that everybody has been speculating about makes only a fleeting appearance, and then only in a very off-hand but amusing way. Bruce Campbell's character this time around is Quentin Beck - known to fans of the comic as Mysterio. Again, don't take this as set-up for a subsequent film, but if anybody ever does put Mysterio in a film and NOT cast Bruce Campbell, they'll have hell to pay.
And of course, this also cleverly shines a new light on Campbell's two previous cameo appearances. Hilarious.
I can now confirm that the Black Cat does not make any significant appearance in the film, despite existing, on paper, in various earlier conceptions. She appears to have been removed for and replaced with Gwen Stacey. She was there for "Dark Peter" to romance, but Stacey was possibly considered a better choice as the franchise will need a new sweetheart now Dunst has made her intentions to depart clear.
