WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Sony’s Venom, in theaters now.


Venom wasn't supposed to be just another run-of-the-mill superhero film. Instead, it was intended stand out among all other comic book films by bringing something new to the genre, or so director Ruben Fleischer claimed in interviews. He said Venom wouldn't have a real hero, in no small part because of the absence of Spider-Man, how no resides in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

If there's one comic book character capable of headlining a cinematic universe built around villains and antiheroes, it's Venom. Unfortunately, the film failed to provide an antihero who could distinguish himself from the rest of them.

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Venom suffers from a variety of issues, ranging from the inconsistent quality of its special effects to the lack of complexity in its characters. Its main antagonist, for example, Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), repeatedly voiced his feeble motivation for trying to combine the symbiotes with humankind, and never once conveyed anything deeper about his character. That may not have been such a significant issue had any of the other characters been more developed. However, they weren't, not even the film's hero, Eddie Brock, played by Tom Hardy.

The film spends a lot of time with Eddie Brock, and yet his character fails to develop in any kind of meaningful way, and so by the end of the second act, his relationship with the symbiote is the lesser for it. That's even more clear for fans who have spent years following the story of Eddie and the Klyntar suit of the comics.

Symbiote-Eddie-Brock-Origin

Before ever encountering Brock, the symbiote had bonded with Spider-Man, and fell in love with him, and did everything in its power to earn his affection, including -- as it was recently revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 -- taking over and brutalizing New York's criminals at night while Peter Parker slept. After he discovered the new suit was a living organism, Peter sought to remove it, and was eventually forced to do so using the sound of church bells, which were harmful to the symbiote. Needless to say, the alien soon developed a burning hatred for Spider-Man, which is one of the reasons why it was drawn to Eddie Brock.

REVIEW: Venom is an Unwelcome Blast from the Pre-MCU Past

Eddie was an investigative journalist determined to catch the serial killer the Sin-Eater. He thought he had done so when Emil Gregg contacted him and confessed to be the villain. Brock was quick to write an exposé on him, one he was proud of until Spider-Man apprehended the real Sin-Eater. Eddie's pride turned to humiliation; he lost his job and his wife, and blamed it all on Spider-Man. That hatred intensified and became a burning obsession, driving Eddie to pursue bodybuilding, until he reached near-peak human physical condition. That, and his loathing for Spider-Man, made him a perfect match for the vengeful symbiote.

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Venom in the comics had a purpose, and although his deluded views were twisted, he was still somewhat relatable. The film, however, failed to adapt the essentials of Venom, and what we got was a host and alien suit that were still more heroic than may have been intended, meaning that, contrary to Fleischer's claims, nothing new was offered to audiences. Venom was almost satisfyingly violent, but that's all there was to him.

Focusing a film on an unlikable protagonist is difficult, but Venom didn't seem to try. In fact, it attempted to depict Eddie as a good person. There was just one scene in which he expressed some hesitation to go save the world, but even that moment couldn't break Eddie Brock free from the mold of the typical superhero (and Venom is the furthest thing from your typical superhero). With such a comparatively meek host, the reasoning behind the symbiote's choice to bond with Brock are completely arbitrary when compared to the comics.

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Through the experiments conducted by Dr. Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate) and Carlton Drake, we learn that symbiotes are only compatible with certain individuals, but we're never provided with any rules governing that. Sometimes it seems as though the host and the symbiote are required to be biologically simpatico, but other times it seems the symbiotes, like Riot and Venom, are the ones deciding. If the latter is true, it makes no sense that the impulsive, violent symbiote would select a host like Eddie Brock. It makes even less sense that the alien would choose to stay on Earth because of anything it experienced with Brock.

In short, Fleischer promised a lot, but, either because Spider-Man is absent from Sony's Spider-Verse or simply because the film insists on adhering to formulae the genre had forgotten, Venom failed -- not only to deliver on its promise to be a new kind of superhero film, but as an adaptation of a tragic antihero, which is possibly the most disappointing part of all this.

It's likely fans will still see a sequel, given the success of Venom at the box office, so there's still hope for a proper, dark adaptation of Venom -- the one that the character and the fans deserve.


Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Venom stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate,Woody Harrelson, Sope Aluko, Scott Deckert, Marcella Bragio and Michelle Lee. In theaters now.