We’re all psyched for Tony Todd to be voicing Venom in Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which is set for a very busy October release. The development team sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss Todd’s casting, and what Candyman himself brings to the role. In addition, the team also unveiled Venom’s look in the game in a new image you’ll find below.
According to Bryan Intihar, senior creative director at Insomniac Games, casting the voice of Venom was a difficult one. “I was so scared of who we were going to get to do the voice. We knew it would be so anticipated and people would have a lot of opinions on it.” Fortunately for him (and us), Todd had submitted an audition tape for Venom, which according to Intihar, captured everything that the team had talked about the character. “Tony embraces that completely in the performance.”
It also didn’t hurt that Intihar had heard Todd’s growling in Nia DaCosta‘s Candyman.
Regarding the character of Venom, the team at Insomniac worked to create “an anti-Spider-Man”. “It’s really interesting when you start thinking about what makes him different than Spider-Man,” according to senior art director Jacinda Chew. “The symbiote is often known as an allegory for the darkness that the host is fighting against.”
“We wanted to try something very different, and I don’t think you can get much more different from Doc Ock than you do Venom,” says Intihar. “It’s about power, it’s about strength, it’s about being slighted, it’s about Peter being involved much more in the creation of Venom. I think that’s what attracted us.”
As for Venom’s look, the team worked in specific story details when it came to the design of Venom, namely the spider insignia. “One of the challenges we had throughout production was, how much does [Venom] talk?” says Chew. “I remember we did some concepts early on [of] does Venom have lips? Does he laugh? Does he smile? Does he frown? It’s a fine line between making this creature scary and intimidating, but then also, I guess, relatable.”
“For us, Venom is the host plus the symbiote,” Intihar adds. “You don’t get Venom without both of them being bonded together. What Tony represents is that bond. I think, if anything, casting Tony made us feel more confident in the visual design of the character.”
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is set for release on October 20th for the PlayStation 5.
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