Luke Owen looks at the upcoming Venom movie…
Along with Deadpool, Venom is one of those comic book characters that the “geek community” latches on to and holds up on a pedestal. No matter what version of the character is in place, Venom is beloved by all and the dream of a movie “done right” has been top of the wish list for many. So when Sony announced that Venom would be getting his own movie, possibly titled Venom Carnage, the Internet exploded with delight. Alex Kurtzman, who will direct the movie, has said that you can do “certain things with the character” that you can’t do with the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man and added that he and Ed Soloman (Super Mario Bros., Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey) have fleshed out an “exciting” story without revealing which Venom will take to the screen.
But whichever version they choose, it doesn’t matter. Without Spider-Man, isn’t Venom a pointless character?
The symbiote was first introduced in May 1984 during the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars where Spider-Man accidentally discovered a black sphere that latched onto his clothing to repair and improve his torn and tattered suit. Complete with his new look, Spider-Man goes about his life until he realises, with the help of Reed Richards, that this new suit is actually an alien symbiote and is alive. After getting the symbiote off him in a church, it latches on to its new host Eddie Brock, a disgraced reporter that blames Spider-Man for the loss of his job after he falsely outed the Sin-Eater. Sensing his hatred for the wall-crawler, the symbiote forms a bond with Brock and the pair become Venom, who then attempt to get their revenge on Spider-Man.
For starters, that is a lot of origin to establish in the opening act of a two-hour movie. This is just one of the reasons why Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 felt so rushed in the end, because you have to spend a long time explaining what the symbiote can do, how it works, why it’s dangerous and then – more importantly – why Venom emulates Spider-Man’s appearance and why he hates him so much. Even when removing the Fantastic Four and Secret Wars elements, that is a heck of a lot of ground to cover. But then if they’re going to add Carnage into the mix, you have even more to explain. You will have to establish Celtus Kasady as the villain and explain why him getting the symbiote is a bad thing as well as explain *how* he gets it – along with all that is mentioned above.
But without looking too deeply at the minefield of getting all of Venom’s backstory into the opening act of one movie, by removing Spider-Man from the equation all together, surely you are taking away everything from Venom’s character.
The key to Venom is his dual hatred for Spider-Man. Brock hates him for costing his job, the symbiote hates him because he rejected him. It’s the reason why it copies the suit and explains why he always wants to chase after the web head no matter who its controlling. Without Spider-Man in the movie, Venom is just another character in a sea of super heroes and villains. You would have to drastically change both the symbiote and Brock’s motivations to justify making a film based on the character. And then when you add Carnage you’re in even deeper waters as now you have to account for two characters, neither of which appear to have any motive.
Now, the argument is that we don’t know if Spider-Man is or isn’t going to be in the movie, but even if he is, do you think that they will be able to balance and establish a story that is this complex in such a short space of time? Isn’t that where Spider-Man 3 went wrong? A movie based around the symbiote and Venom requires more than one film, but it appears – if rumours are to be believed – that they’re diving right into the deep end with Venom Carnage. What a squandered opportunity.
Jamie Foxx’s Electro was a wasted entity in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 because he didn’t really have any reason to be in the movie other than they needed a villain. You didn’t care if he beat Spider-Man because you didn’t care about him. Getting a movie based on Venom is exciting, but it at this stage it feels more like a cash-grab job because they are ignoring the most crucial part of his character – his hate for Spider-Man. Without that, he’s as useless as Electro.
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published September 19, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
