Venom’s love of chocolate in Let There Be Carnage is strangely true to the comics

Poison: Let there be slaughter It’s about relationships: Eddie and Venom, Venom and Carnage, brains and … chocolate?

It’s a Venom movie from start to finish, and that means strange and outlandish bets are put on the struggles of the titular couple. Dinner dates included!

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage.]

Casual and veteran Venom fans will undoubtedly find a lot of silly heart in Poison 2The story that sees the eponymous Symbiote and its host, disgraced (and lobster fan) reporter Eddie Brock, fighting and eventually breaking through (among other things) dietary restrictions. The Symbiote is sick of eating brains and chocolate. Eddie doesn’t see the problem. It is a tale as old as time.

But does any of this Really take place in the comics? Does the sinister spider ever chew on some domes? Are you really addicted to chocolate? Yes, yes, and it is complicated! We shouldn’t look past some ridiculously dark solo Venom comics from the 1990s for more information.

The earliest, and possibly the most famous, example of Venom’s drastic dietary cravings comes from writer David Michelinie and artist Erik Larsen. Spider-Man # 333, which features Spider-Man fighting a surprise Venom attack. Venom, still solidly on the side of the villains of the superhero lineups, lunges at Peter Parker while proudly proclaiming, “We want to eat your brain!” A line memorable enough to be cited on the action figure packaging, cementing the Symbiote’s signature appetites.

Image: David Michelinie, Erik Larsen / Marvel Comics

But it wouldn’t be even the most absurd but appropriately titled spin-off of 1996, Poison: hunger, that we discover the how and why behind the whole brain thing. In that series, the Venom symbiote, spurred on by his insatiable desire to eat brains and scorned by Eddie’s desire to uh … don’t do that, leaves Brock naked and alone in a desolate part of New York City to go searching. what you need.

Immediately after a breakup, and taking the form of a Xenomorph-esque snake, the symbiote set out to feast while Brock was confined to a hospital of horrors under the direction of the cannibal monster Dr. Paine.

Paine, who also enjoys a good brain from time to time, took it upon himself to explore Eddie’s ailments and discovered that Brock was deficient in a real-life brain chemical called phenylethylamine, more commonly known as PEA. Whether it’s because the symbiote had been eating at Brock’s PEA and was out of stock, or because Eddie never produced enough to start with, Venom needed more. The most likely source is, of course, other brains.

Image: Len Kaminski, Ted Halsted / Marvel Comics

But the second most common source of phenylethylamine? Chocolate, naturally. Determined to save their relationship or die trying, Eddie Brock escaped Paine’s clutches and pursued the symbiote with a flamethrower, sonic weapons, and candy in tow. The two eventually reconciled in a slimy, loving embrace, and Eddie’s narration notes that the brain produces an abundance of PEA, a governor of emotions, when you’re in love. Oooh.

The implication that the story ends with is that Eddie is ready to live and love Venom again, sharing the PEA that the Symbiote desperately needs while keeping some chocolates (blatantly hidden in a Valentine’s Day heart-shaped box) to hand for a sweet time surprise. at the same time, reflecting the final reconciliation of the film.

Neither the comics nor Let there be slaughterThe plot refers to Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA), a blue-green algae that produces more PEA than chocolate and the human brain, but maybe they’ll get there in the aftermath.