IGN just provided us with a first look at Tom Hardy as Venom, but at first glance, the photo didn’t reveal much. It was just Eddie Brock, worked as a reporter in the comic books, with a journalist’s notebook in his hand. That is, until he disgraced himself and bonded with the Symbiote. But take a closer look; there’s more to the pic than you might think.

If you zoom in on the notebook, you’ll see that Brock’s written out three questions, all of which concern the Life Foundation. Last December, it was revealed that Riz Ahmed (previously rumored to portray Carnage) was cast as the head of the company, which played an important role in the Lethal Protector story arc.

In the comics, the Life Foundation captured Venom and used him to create the Symbiotes Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher, and Agony for the purpose of drawing Spider-Man’s attention. As far as we know, the web-crawler won’t appear in Venom, so this comic book plot point may not be used in the movie.

The questions in Brock’s notebook:

So, how exactly does the Life Foundation go about testing its pharmaceuticals?

What about the allegations your empire is built on?

That you recruit the most vulnerable of us to volunteer for the tests that end up ["¦] them?

It’s safe to assume that the origins of this fictional company were relatively shady. Brock apparently suspects as much, so he decides to uncover the legality or illegality of the Life Foundation's practices.

Brock notes that the most vulnerable of us were tricked into volunteering for the company’s tests. Could this be how Venom was created in Sony's Marvel Universe? Or did he already exist? Does Brock suspect that the Life Foundation is using his Symbiote to create an army of supervillains?

Venom will be released on October 5, 2018.