As all superhero lovers know by now, Venom is the product of the scorned alien symbiote bonding with disgraced reporter Eddie Brock over their mutual hatred for Spider-Man. But did you also know that the original vision for the human side of Venom wasn’t Eddie, but a woman who blamed her tragic losses on Spider-Man?

Though this true origin story isn’t a secret to Venom fans, it recently resurfaced when Venom creator David Michelinie told the story for audiences at Connecticut's TerrifiCon and was recorded for the John Suintress-hosted comics podcast Word Balloon.

Michelinie’s initial pitch for Venom’s human host was quite different from what eventually became canon. Originally, Venom was going to be a woman who was pregnant and going into labor, so her husband went outside to flag down a cab. But the cab driver was distracted by a nearby battle between Spider-Man and a supervillain, causing the driver to accidentally hit and kill the husband, and the woman had a miscarriage and fell into a coma. Upon waking and realizing what happened to her family, the woman blamed the loss of her husband and baby on Spider-Man. Her hatred for Spider-Man drew the symbiote to her, and so they bonded to become Venom and seek revenge on the web-slinger.

Continue reading…

Borderlands 2 VR has officially been announced for PlayStation VR and will be released on Dec. 14, 2018.

Announced by 2K Games and Gearbox Software, Borderlands 2 VR brings various changes to the original Borderlands 2 in order to better tailor it to virtual reality. Accordingly, this is a single-player only game, and though that means co-op play from the original won’t be back, it allows Gearbox to include the new BAMF (Bad Ass Mega Fun) Time system that slows down time temporarily to let players set up their next attack.

Gearbox has confirmed that Borderlands 2 VR is both PlayStation Move and DualShock 4 compatible. Menus have been redesigned to better fit VR and operate by physically pointing, clicking, dragging and dropping objects in the menu, at least while using a Move controller.

Continue reading…

They won't call it PlayStation 5 right now, but Sony has finally confirmed that, yes, it has another console on the way.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said “At this point, what I can say is it’s necessary to have a next-generation hardware”. Yoshida wouldn't commit to a name, or explain what form that hardware would take.

It's not an enormous surprise that Sony would have begun development on a new console –  not least because multiple games have already been announced for next-gen consoles. However, Sony openly admitting that it is working on hardware has led some to conclude that a formal announcement could be closer than expected.

Continue reading…

If you buy something through this post, IGN may get a share of the sale. For more, read our Terms of Use.

Like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter for the latest deals.

3 Month Xbox Game Pass for £15.13

Continue reading…

The James Gunn-produced horror movie BrightBurn has been postponed from November 30 to the more coveted slot of May 24, 2019.

As reported by THR, Sony has pushed the film to the beginning of the long Memorial Day weekend, a much more desirable spot on the box-office calendar, which implies a great deal of faith in the film.

BrightBurn was meant to have a panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, but it was nixed after the news broke that Disney had fired James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 over old tweets resurfaced by conservative pundits. As such, we still don't know anything about the film other than it's a Gunn family affair (Gunn's brother and cousin Brian and Mark wrote the script) and will star Elizabeth Banks. The Hive filmmaker David Yarovesky is directing.

Continue reading…

Seven new photos of the Pet Sematary remake have been officially released by Paramount Pictures.

The photos, which can be viewed in the slideshow below, feature Jason Clarke as Louis Creed, Amy Seimetz as Rachel Creed, Jeté Laurence as their daughter Ellie, twins Hugo and Lucas Lavoie as Gage, and John Lithgow as Jud Crandall. The film is being directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer.

Among the photos is an image of a raggedy cat standing on an open road. This is likely Church, one of the primary characters of Stephen King’s 1983 novel of the same name.

It’s been almost a full year since Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer were named as directors for the film. At this time, Paramount also announced that Jeff Buhler and David Kajganich penned the script, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian producing.

Continue reading…

Netflix Inc. is in "final negotiations" to purchase ABQ Studios which would be the media company's first production studio.

As reported by Bloomberg, ABQ Studios is a New Mexico facility that was used to make The Avengers and Sicario, and Netflix would be purchasing this studio "to accommodate its growing output of original movies and television shows."

Continue reading…

Cameron Monaghan, who has played Ian Gallagher on Shameless for "roughly ten years," announced that this Sunday's episode will be his final one as Ian.

Monaghan announced his departure on Instagram.

Alongside the above photos, he wrote a letter to fans of the show and of Ian Gallagher and ended his heartfelt message with "Goodbye, Ian Clayton Gallagher. We'll meet again?"

I have been a series regular on this show for roughly ten years. I was the tender age of fifteen when we shot the pilot, and I came of age in so many ways, both legally and personally. I was very lucky to mature and grow with this show. Experiencing so many firsts, maturing as an actor, a professional, and a human. In the process gaining friends, family, and the best coworkers a very lucky actor could ask for, and for this I can be nothing but gracious.

Continue reading…

While early projections put Venom between $50 million and $60 million, it actually over-performed, in a big way. Venom’s estimated $80 million debut was more than enough to best the previous October box office opening weekend record of $55.8 million, set by Gravity in 2013. While this debut is definitely stronger than expected, it doesn’t exactly hold a candle to the rest of the Spider-Man franchise but is strong compared to most superhero spin-offs.

Venom’s debut actually doesn’t even come close to the original Spider-Man trilogy from director Sam Raimi, starring Tobey Maguire as the webbed wonder. 2002’s Spider-Man ($114.8 million debut, $403.7 million domestic) set an opening weekend record at the time, but the 2004 sequel Spider-Man 2 did slide significantly ($88.2 million debut, $373.6 million domestic). 2007’s Spider-Man 3 (which starred Topher Grace as Venom/Eddie Brock) rebounded with another then-record ($151.1 million debut, $336.5 million domestic). The record debut is almost ironic, though, since it had the worst domestic haul of the three and is considered the trilogy’s worst by many fans and critics alike.

Continue reading…

There have long been rumblings about The Raid director Gareth Evans being linked to DC's Deathstroke movie that would star Joe Manganiello, and Evans himself recently clarified these reports.

Speaking to Comicbook.com, Evans stated "I had a phone call which I think was publicized a bit, about Deathstroke with DC." From the sounds of his comments, his talks with DC were not much more than that.

"Nothing really went beyond those conversations. I haven't heard anything for a really long time,"  Evans said. "To be honest, every time I see an article written I keep wanting to ask, 'Okay, what is it you guys know that I don't know?' Because I haven't heard anything for a good while yet. So I don't know if that will ever come back full circle at some point. But I know I haven't had any conversation about that project for a long time now."

Continue reading…