Initially when it was announced that Riz Ahmed would by joining Sony’s solo Venom film there was much speculation that he may have been portraying Venom’s opposite Cleatus Kassidy aka Carnage. Well that may have changed as new information shows he may be playing another important character in the Venom world.
A photo posted with by Atlanta Filming identifies Ahmed as Dr. Drake — that is, Carlton Drake — a character with definite ties to Venom introduced in 1988 in The Amazing Spider-Man #298. Drake is the head of the corporate survivalist group the Life Foundation, which captured Venom and extracted from him five additional symbiotes: Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher and Agony. (shown below)
https://twitter.com/AtlantaFilming/status/944337534267555840
Ahmed as Drake would certainly make sense, given that the film ris supposedly getting some of its influence from the 1993 Marvel Comics miniseries Venom: Lethal Protector, which introduces the other symbiotes (the 1995 crossover “Planet of the Symbiotes” is also said to serve as source material).
Drake is more than a one-trick pony, because he and the Life Foundation also rebuilt the robot Tri-Sentinel, and funded the Arachnis Project, with the intent of creating a race of Homo Arachnis. He was himself injected with the serum and transformed into a Homo Arachnis, which may or may not hint at the character’s arc in Venom.
Are you getting more interested or even intrigued with this film. Well just so you can mark it on your calendar the film is set to hit theaters on October 5, 2018
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