He might be up for playing Batman for free, but fans have deemed Reacher star Alan Ritchson a better fit for the black suit that once belonged to Spider-Man. Over on Reddit, one fan threw Ritchson's name into the ring for taking on Eddie Brock, aka Venom, should a different iteration of the character ever appear in the MCU. It didn't take long for others to wholeheartedly agree with the option.
The original post that has since been removed got a lot of positive feedback with many agreeing he'd made a better Lethal Protector than he would a Caped Crusader. One fan said, "Now this is a much more reasonable casting choice than Batman. At least physically, he’s exactly what I’d expect Brock to look like," they explained. "Personality-wise, he’d do better as an overconfident military type who thinks he’s smarter than he is. Brock seemed to have self awareness of what he is that Ritchson doesn’t."
Another fan argued that while he would be a good pick to join Venom, he'd be better suited as a different host than Eddie Brock. "You're on the right track. I think he'd be a Great Venom host. I just don't know if agree with Eddie. He'd be good at it. But considering Reacher, I genuinely think he'd be better as Flash Thompson. Agent Venom."
In the comics, Peter Parker's longtime school bully, Flash Thompson (played in the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies by Tony Revolori), ended up getting bonded to the symbiote and becoming a government agent. Besides having all the perks of the alien enhancement, Flash was armed to the teeth. The only setback was that he could only stay bonded to the symbiote for 48 hours, at risk of the alien taking over Thompson completely.
Either way, it doesn't look like Venom of any iteration will be appearing in the MCU any time soon following Tom Hardy's goodbye to the character in Venom: The Last Dance, but Ritchson would be a wonderful 'what if?' Speaking of The Last Dance, check out our list of 10 best Venom comics worth your time here.
