You may remember Topher Grace as the geeky protagonist of Fox's That '70s Show. Or perhaps, like me, you were too busy staring at the incomparable Mila Kunis (then underaged). In any event, the picture comparison below should jar your memory.

Eddie Brock/Venom, like the Sandman and the rest of the early Spider-Man villains, is friggin' enormous. His neck is the size of Topher Grace's quadriceps. The message is that Spider-Man's toned, agile swimmer's build triumphs over the steriod-fueled meatheads he fights. Of course, it's going to be tough to see Eddie Brock as a teutonic titan when he's being played by a guy who looks like a computer science student from middle America.

Sam Raimi is probably going to argue that it was Eddie Brock's alien suit that turned him into a monster. While it's true that it made him helluva tough and angry, it didn't turn a geek into a giant. Neither can months of gym time, supposing they even instruct Topher to bulk up.

If the little guy is fighting other little guys, it's no longer inspiring; it's just midget wrestling all over again, and that's not even legal in some states, such as the state of sobriety.