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When you ingest as much cinematic trash as I have, you begin to view the world a bit differently. Suddenly up is down, black is white, bad is good – the lines between heroes & villains blurs, and answers are sought to an endless series of unresolved plot threads. While thinking on such things, I’m often confronted by these two simple words: “WHAT IF?”
This eternal question is what fuels this fledgling column, which aims to explore my skewed view of various films and pop culture ephemera. Hopefully along the way you will be entertained as I conjecture on a multitude of topics in an attempt to give you pause after you scoff at my often groundless hypotheses!
For my latest WHAT IF entry, I take a look back at Toho Co. Ltd.’s oft-overlooked 1970 kaiju bash SPACE AMOEBA. The film begins when a space probe called the Helios 7 returns to Earth and splashes down near a tropical paradise called Selgio Island. However, it turns out that there is a mysterious stowaway onboard: the titular space amoeba!
The blue-hued amorphous mass begins bonding with, and mutating, local sea-life resulting in a trio of giant creatures: Gezora, a massive squid that can travel on land and freeze whatever it captures in its tentacles, Ganimes, a gigantic stone crab with mighty claws and bubbly projectile saliva, and Kamoebas, a titanic Matamata turtle with patented accordion neck attack!
The three kaiju terrorize the natives of Selgio, as well as a group of researchers, until they are all defeated through various means. Gezora is set aflame, one Ganimes is blown up with some WWII-era ordnance, while a second crab kaiju takes a volcanic bath with Kamoebas during their brief scuffle at the film’s climax.
Additionally, a human host for the space amoeba, Makoto Obata (Kenji Sahara) was gifted with super strength, as well as the power to communicate via ESP! Makoto was forced to work against his fellow humans until the creature’s “spell” over him is broken, allowing him to sacrifice himself to destroy it.
Obviously fire and intense heat proved effective against the alien’s kaiju forms, but another interesting weakness that is discovered later in the film is ultrasonic sound waves! Thanks to the unexpected intervention of dolphins and bats, the intelligent amoeba loses control of its hosts and humanity is able to to repel the attempted invasion!
SPACE AMOEBA suffered from budget cuts and behind-the-scenes drama that caused a rift between director Ishiro Honda and Toho’s producers. Maybe that’s part of the reason why it didn’t make a huge splash in Japanese theaters. Though the film would eventually make its way to the U.S. in a slightly truncated form the following year as YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE, it was up against stiff competition, surrounded by other more notable films like THE OMEGA MAN, JOHNNY GET YOUR GUN, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, and THE MEPHISTO WALTZ!
However, “YOG” did get some play on late-night TV on programs like Chiller Theatre and Son of Svengoolie, and made it to VHS in the late 80s/early 90s before it faded into relative obscurity. SPACE AMOEBA was eventually rediscovered in the early 2000s, thanks to the internet and Media Blasters giving the film its DVD debut, but sadly it still seems like this tropical sci-fi adventure hasn’t quite found its audience all these decades later.
But… WHAT IF one of Marvel Comics’ most enduring characters was inspired by this Toho classic? WHAT IF a certain “lethal protector” owes his early origins to the likes of Gezora, Ganimes, and Kameobas?
Thirteen years after SPACE AMOEBA premiered in U.S. theaters, Marvel Comics unleashed their Secret Wars mini-series, in which the cosmic being known as Beyonder kidnaps various heroes and villains from Earth, and transports them to “Battleworld.” Lasting for about a year and featuring dozens of fan favorite characters, the popular Secret Wars storyline (which is currently being adapted into a major motion picture from Marvel Studios, and slated for a December 2027 release!) famously unveiled Peter Parker’s new black & white Spider-Man costume!
The suit design was dreamed up by a fan named Randy Schueller, who sold his idea to Marvel for $220. Eventually, various writers and artists developed a backstory that Spider-Man’s new duds were in fact a sentient alien creature called a symbiote. It imbued Spidey with nearly unlimited organic webbing, increased his speed and strength, and allowed him to adapt to any situation. (e.g. The suit could change into normal street clothes at a moment’s notice.)
Eventually it is discovered that the suit is alive and trying to form a permanent bond with Parker, who eventually uses the sonic vibrations of a cathedral bell to force the symbiote to separate from his body. And as all of you reading this know, the sentient black goo from space eventually bonds with disgraced reporter Eddie Brock and turns into Venom! Sometimes a villain (with an axe to grind against Spider-Man), and sometimes an anti-hero, the Venom symbiote imbues its host with superhuman abilities, increasing both their physical size and strength.
And interestingly enough, Venom’s main weaknesses (which are shared by most of his fellow Klyntar) happen to be intense heat/fire, as well as sonic attacks! Now this is entirely speculation on my part, but it seems to me that there’s more than enough similarities to make me believe that someone at Marvel (be it David Michelinie, Tom DeFalco, or any number of artists) may have been partially influenced by seeing Toho’s SPACE AMOEBA!
Naturally I have zero evidence to back this up (which is typical of yours truly) but hear me out! In the 1970s, Marvel Comics was headquartered in New York City (on Madison Avenue). And the “YOG” cut of SPACE AMOEBA premiered in NYC on August 4, 1971. So the odds of one of these (then) twenty-year-old guys popping into a theater on nearby 42nd street to see a newly released Japanese giant monster movie is probably better than average.
And while I certainly understand that there have been occasions where creators develop a film or story that is incredibly (though unintentionally) similar to somebody else’s work, (e.g. James Gunn claimed to never have seen NIGHT OF THE CREEPS prior to writing/directing SLITHER) I truly think it’s plausible that any one of Venom’s creators could have cribbed a few ideas from a rather silly monster movie that few are likely to remember.
So what say you gang? Does my theory hold any water? Could I have just revealed a long-forgotten conspiracy? Or is this just purely a crazy coincidence that’s been living rent-free in my brain for the better part of five years? Let me know by leaving a comment below, and thanks for taking the time to hop down this rabbit hole with me!