'Venom' Spoilers: We Finally Know Why and How the Symbiotes Get to Earth

Now we know exactly how the symbiotes get to Earth in Venom and it’s a totally practical means that has absolutely nothing to do with Spider-Man.

On Wednesday, IGN revealed why and how the many symbiotes in Venom wind up on Earth — and yes, there’s more than just Venom.

“We see, at the beginning of the film, the moment when the symbiotes are collected up by a Life Foundation space probe,” VFX supervisor Paul Franklin said. “Which finds them on a comet drifting through space, approaching Earth.”

The space probe is looking for signs of life — and those signs of life are looking for host bodies.

“The symbiotes seem to actively want to be collected. Because it’s all part of their plan to come to Earth. They’re looking for planets where they can find hosts to inhabit,” Franklin said. “They’ve never really found a place where they can exist in harmony with the life forms of whatever planet they find themselves on.”

Much like the aliens from A Quiet Place, these symbiotes basically rode an asteroid like a spaceship so they could hunt other living beings.

Franklin also exposes the Life Foundation as a nefarious organization pretending to do good, saying that they’re “teaming up with aliens to take over Earth.” Riz Ahmed’s Carlton Crake is their leader, experimenting in unethical ways on human subjects, trying to bond them with the symbiotes. Interestingly, the process doesn’t work all that well, and it seems like Venom bonding successfully with Eddie Brock is kind of a big deal.

“This is a completely new thing for the symbiotes,” Franklin says. “The Venom symbiote finds Eddie Brock, finds he can live in equilibrium with him. That there’s a balance that can be found there.”

Unlike past iterations of the symbiotes, the bonding process seems a bit more chaotic and unpredictable in Venom.

In the comics, Deadpool and then Spider-Man encountered the Venom Symbiote on a planet called Battleworld during the “Secret Wars” storyline. Peter Parker wore the Black Suit Spider-Man costume and brought it back to Earth, eventually rejecting it outright for fear of its sentience. That’s when the symbiote found and bonded with Eddie Brock.

Since Venom was first announced, everyone’s been wondering how Sony will introduce Eddie Brock and deliver the Venom origin story without including Spider-Man. Director Ruben Fleischer has remained cagey about whether or not Spidey might appear in the movie. With this new origin for the organisms, Venom doesn’t need Spider-Man at all — and maybe that’s a good thing.

Venom will be released on October 5, 2018.

Here’s the second trailer, in which Venom says the word “turd” without laughing: