Ryan Kwanten, best known for playing Jason Stackhouse on HBO's "True Blood," brings a Marvel villain to life in "Truth in Journalism," a new short film from director Joe Lynch ("Knights of Badassdom") and producer Adi Shankar ("The Grey").
The 17-minute black-and-white film follows Kwanten as Eddie Brock, a crime reporter being trailed by a French documentary crew. And as any "Spider-Man" fan should know, Brock is more famous for his alien Symbiote alter ego, Venom — a villain and anti-hero in the Marvel universe.
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The short debuted at Comic-Con this year, but made its way online Wednesday. It's the second Marvel character Shankhar has adapted — last summer, Shankar produced "Dirty Laundry," a short in which Thomas Jane took another crack at playing The Punisher.
Fans were much more appreciative of Shankhar's take on The Punisher, compared to the 2004 feature starring Jane, and YouTube comments indicate they're enjoying Shankar's revival of Venom, a character Topher Grace played in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3."
"Take note Marvel: THIS is how Venom should be portrayed," one of many favorable comments read. "You can't tell which way he's going until he decides to show you. Many times over, as a huge fan of Venom, this film was more exciting to watch than 'Spider-man 3.'"
Here's the short: