A fun retro trailer has arrived for Wal-Mart's exclusive Venom action figure, which is available to those who buy a Blu-ray copy of the movie. A solo Venom movie has been a long time coming. The first attempt was back in 1997 when David S. Goyer – screenwriter of Man Of Steel and The Dark Knight – was hired to pen a script. This project had no ties to Spider-Man, with Venom’s own spider symbol being explained by the fact he came from a planet populated by giant spiders. Dolph Lundgren was tipped for the title role, but the project didn’t ultimately move forward.

Sony then considered a Venom movie to follow the character’s live-action debut in 2007's Spider-Man 3, but following a backlash to how the movie portrayed Venom, the movie was scrapped. Venom was also supposed to play a big role in The Amazing Spider-Man shared universe, with Channing Tatum campaigning for the part. Those well-laid plans came undone when Marvel and Sony signed a deal to share Spider-Man, leading to Tom Holland taking over as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War.

Related: Hasbro Has No Plans For Venom Movie Action Figures

The character finally landed his own movie with Venom, starring Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams. While the film wasn’t exactly showered with praise by critics it struck a chord with audiences and would go on to gross over $850 million worldwide. Now Sony has released a throwback trailer to announce the arrival of a Venom action figure, which is available exclusively to those who buy a Blu-ray copy of the movie from Wal-Mart.

Surprisingly, Hasbro opted not to produce a line of toys to tie in with Venom’s release. Hasbro apparently wasn’t sure what the response to the movie would be, but considering the film’s worldwide success, that’s probably a business decision they regret. When Venom was first announced it was believed the movie would be a dark, R-rated adventure, with comments from the cast and crew seemingly confirming this. It was something of a surprise to learn prior to release the movie was actually aiming for a PG-13, but while some fans were disappointed with this news, it doesn’t appear to have hurt the movie’s profitability.

Sony is now planning a shared universe based around Spider-Man villains, with Jared Leto’s Morbius next in line, followed by Venom 2. Venom screenwriter Jeff Pinker also recently teased a future crossover between the character and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man wasn’t out of the question.

More: Venom Co-Creator Reveals His Problem With Spider-Man 3’s Version

Source: Sony Pictures Entertainment