Sony's Venom movie, set to be the first of their Spider-Man spin-offs that exist within their own cinematic universe, is getting ready for production. While we've heard a lot of casting news, we haven't heard much in the way of story. How on Earth is this Venom movie going to work? It looks like we may have our answer. Venom may very well be adapting a classic 90s Marvel Comics storyline that sees the titular character becoming a hero in San Francisco.

According to a new report, the Venom movie is going to adapt the Venom: Lethal Protector storyline. Specifically, the first arc of the Venom solo series. The book does see Eddie Brock venture out on his own and do some good for once, which seems to fit what Sony wants to do with this movie, but there are some major elements of the story that would need to be changed. Here's a summary of the events in the Lethal Protector storyline.

"Before the story begins, Venom makes an agreement with Spider-Man that they will leave each other alone, on the condition that Venom commits no crimes. Venom then moves from New York City to San Francisco and takes up with a group of Californian mole people. Shortly thereafter the father of one of Venom's victims seeks him out with a group of super-powered mercenaries to take revenge. Spider-Man, seeing misleading coverage of Venom on television, heads to San Francisco to confront him and instead winds up fighting alongside Venom against five new offspring of the Venom Symbiote: Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher, and Agony."

There's a lot to dig into there. For one, Spider-Man plays a huge role in Lethal Protector, and we already know that he's not going to appear in the movie. So that element would have to be removed almost entirely. Also, the book features a group of mercenaries known as The Jury. The tech in their suits is based on Tony Stark designs and, since Venom won't be part of the MCU, that would likely have to change as well. And the whole mole people thing is just kind of weird.

All of that aside, a loose adaptation of Lethal Protector makes some sense. The report notes that the production will shoot, at least partially, in San Francisco, which is where this particular story takes place. It's been reported that Carnage is going to be the main villain of this movie. It's possible that they could change one of these other symbiote enemies into Carnage to have him factor into the movie. So there's definitely a way to make this work.

Venom, which is being directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), is set to arrive on October 5, 2018, with Tom Hardy set to star as Eddie Brock/Venom. We'll have to wait and see how this plays out, but the small production details that Omega Underground have uncovered do point to a Lethal Protector adaptation. We'll be sure to keep you up to date as more information on the project is made available.