3 Reasons Why Alan Ritchson Will Bring Venom To Life

Every Spider-Man fan's dream is becoming a reality. Sony is setting up everyone's favorite antihero for his own movie, and bringing an R rating with him. It's hard to imagine any movie with #Venom going bad, but it has happened before. Spider-Man 3 was a massive disappointment and it was largely due to the giant black symbiote himself. That '70s Show standout Topher Grace was blessed with the opportunity to bring Eddie Brock to life in his first live-action showing, but it was a horrible miscast.

No fault of Grace's though; he did everything he could with the role and honestly played a convincing villain, but the writers let him down in the end. It also didn't help that his slender frame really alienated him with diehard fans who see Brock as a character meant to be played by a bulkier actor.

I've heard many fans mention WWE stars like John Cena or Brock Lesnar as perfect casting options for Eddie Brock, but I think it'll take someone with a much more diverse set of acting skills to carry the weight of a major film. When the casting news for Venom is released I not only believe it should go to this man, but I believe it will go to him — Hunger Games alumni and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles star Alan Ritchson. Why?

3. The Perfect Physique

#Superheroes are always overanalyzed by fans when castings take place. I've always been of the belief that it doesn't matter how closely the actor resembles his comic book counterpart if they're the perfect fit for the role. In this case, we have an actor who fits both. Eddie Brock is a massive human specimen whose muscular physique is what gives Venom such a massive height and weight advantage over #SpiderMan.

Ritchson stands at 6'2" and 215 pounds of pure muscle. His resemblance to Brock from the comics doesn't end with being muscular. His chiseled jaw line and blonde hair almost look like they were ripped right off of comic book pages. Topher Grace's slender Eddie Brock was a nice try, but Alan Ritchson's Venom will be able to eat Spider-Man 3's Venom.

2. Experience With Motion Capture

One of Ritchson's most recognizable roles is one that you really wouldn't recognize him at all in. He portrayed the bad boy ninja Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. This role was done completely through mo-cap with a shell strapped to his back.

With Venom being a character that'll require a heavy amount of mo-cap, it would be very wise to find an actor who can perform both the live-action and CGI roles of the character. Ask Mark Ruffalo, who had Andy Serkis help him bring Hulk to life — mo-cap is not as easy as it seems. It takes a lot of charisma to truly translate a character's emotion and movements perfectly through a digital format and into live action. His portrayal of Raphael proves he can handle that responsibility.

1. Acting Chops Are Ready To Be Tested

Ritchson has a lot of acting credits to his name but he has yet to be recognized for his acting ability or given a role to help show it off. In The Hunger Games: Catching Fire his role was very limited, but what you did see was admirable and made the character stand out among the rest. His voiceover work as Raphael was also impressive, as the dialogue for that movie was scratchy and poorly written. Raphael suffered with some of the more cheesy lines, but Ritchson delivered them in a way that made a talking turtle actually seem realistic.

Something to take note of is his character from Catching Fire, Gloss, was a minor villain and Raphael walked the line of antihero, which is what this Venom is set to be. Ritchson is someone who excels with these types of roles and a major movie like Venom could be the key to showing off how proficient he can be when given the opportunity to be more then the pretty face or the good-looking guy in the background.