Seven years after its release, Venom has a complicated history with comic book movie fans. The 2018 superhero film did its best to repair the damage done to its titular character in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 over a decade earlier. Tom Hardy’s version leaned into the more heroic side of Venom, portraying him as the “Lethal Protector.” While better received than Topher Grace’s version of the character, this version of Eddie Brock/Venom is still a far cry from his comic book counterpart.
Venom also kicked off Sony’s infamous Spider-Man cinematic universe, which came to an unceremonious end last year with Kraven the Hunter. With the Sony Spider-Man Universe now officially dead, Venom director Ruben Fleischer is opening up about his experience with the film that kicked off the franchise. According to Fleisher, a surprising comedy movie from more than forty years ago helped inspire Venom’s lighter tone that transformed the character from a horrific villain to a surprisingly humorous antihero.
Steve Martin’s All of Me Was a Surprising Inspiration for Venom
Steve Martin points to his head in All of MeImage via Universal Pictures/Everett Collection
According to Ruben Fleischer, Venom was surprisingly inspired by a hit comedy movie from the mid-1980s. In a new interview with The Playlist’s Discourse Podcast, Fleisher explained his desire to make Venom’s character less serious than certain other leading superheroes in modern cinema. He points out that the very premise of Venom is ridiculous, as it follows a man who is now forced to share his body with a parasitic alien. While there are still elements of body horror in the movie, Venom leans heavily into the absurdity of its story, particularly when it comes to the endless bickering between Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the symbiote Venom (who is also voiced by Hardy). Fleischer states that he believes this humorous dynamic is a major reason that Venom resonated with audiences, leading to a much larger franchise based around these characters. The director attributes much of the film’s humor to the 1984 film All of Me starring legendary comedian Steve Martin:
“But I think something that people love about ‘Venom’ is that he’s funny. You know what I mean? It doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s kind of a ridiculous premise that you have an alien living inside you and sharing space with you… I kind of leaned into the—I don’t know if it’s really body horror—but ‘All of Me’ with Steve Martin was a big inspiration. ‘An American Werewolf in London’ was another one. Both are tonally on the more humorous side of things,” he explained. “I think ‘Venom’ is darker among the superhero franchises, just in terms of the way the character looks and his attitude. But he’s also really, really funny. So Tom Hardy was able to realize that wonderfully. And I think the charisma of Tom and of Venom himself is largely what has made it so popular among audiences.”
All of Me isn’t one of Steve Martin’s better-known comedies, but the connections between the 1984 film and Venom are clear. In All of Me, Steve Martin’s character, Roger Cobb, has his life thrown into shambles when an unfortunate turn of events leads him to inherit the soul of his client, a wealthy widow named Edwina (Lily Tomlin). The unlikely pair is then forced to share the same body, with Roger controlling his left side and Edwina the right. This naturally leads to hilarity as the duo learn to live together and appear normal to the outside world. Venom plays up All of Me’s premise, this time with an alien symbiote vying for control of a human body. In this version, however, Eddie Brock is the clear underdog, forced to ride along as an uncontrolling passenger whenever Venom gets overzealous in his superhero pursuits.
Fleischer also credited the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London with inspiring elements of Venom, which are clearly seen in the movie’s body horror scenes. This blend worked out well for the 2018 film, giving it a dark comedy flair that stands out among the ever-growing landscape that is the superhero genre. The results speak for themselves, with Venom earning over $850 million during its theatrical run as the most popular Sony Spider-Man Universe movie by far.
Venom’s Comedy Completely Redefined the Character
Image via Marvel / Sony Pictures Releasing / Courtesy Everett Collection
Venom’s comedic approach to the titular Spider-Man villain vastly changed how the world viewed the character. In the comics, Venom is introduced as a dark character, a combination of a down-on-his-luck reporter at the end of his rope and a vengeful symbiote seeking revenge against the hero that rejected it. Together, Eddie Brock and the symbiote become one of Spider-Man’s most dangerous–and frightening–villains of all time. Venom’s early appearances proved so frightening, in fact, that Mary Jane Watson found herself traumatized to the point that she could no longer look at Spider-Man’s black suit without reliving the fear she felt when first faced with the lookalike symbiote. Venom’s later appearances sometimes toned down the horror elements of the character, but he was always a frightening presence until the 2018 film. Venom redefined its main character, turning Eddie Brock and Venom into a bickering odd couple closely resembling Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin in All of Me. The humor certainly works, but doesn’t necessarily do justice to the original character from the comics.
As would be expected after the first film’s success, the disappointing Venom sequels doubled down on the comedy of the Eddie-Venom duo. Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Venom: The Last Dance fully embrace the odd couple trope to the point where they are more similar to romantic comedies than legitimate superhero films in structure. The will-they-won’t-they symbiotic relationship becomes the centerpiece of the trilogy, culminating in Venom’s tragic death at the end of The Last Dance. The franchise presents a unique version of Venom that works well enough for its own self-contained story, but won’t necessarily appease longtime fans of the character. For those who have only seen the movies, Venom may forever be the comedic antihero rather than the fear-inducing supervillain.
What’s Next for Venom?
Venom smiles in The Last DanceMarvel / Sony Pictures Releasing / Courtesy Everett Collection
Thankfully, there is still a chance for audiences to see more of Venom, perhaps even a more comics-accurate version than the one depicted in the Sony Spider-Man Universe. There are indications that a new version of the character could show up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Eddie Brock’s brief vacation to the Marvel Cinematic Universe during the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home left a sample of the Venom Symbiote behind on Earth-616. This tease will most likely be resolved in the upcoming sequel, which could finally introduce the MCU’s version of Venom. It seems likely that this version will be more similar to the hulking, terrifying Venom from the comics. However, some rumors contend that the MCU will bypass the Eddie Brock version of the character and have the symbiote bond with Mac Gargan. Gargan, best known as the Scorpion, bonds with Venom after Eddie’s terminal cancer diagnosis. Given that Tom Hardy’s version of the character is still so recent, it would make sense for the MCU to go with the Gargan iteration of Venom instead.
Alternatively, there is still a chance for audiences to see Tom Hardy’s Venom one last time. Hardy has been very open about his desire for Venom to face off against Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. While this almost happened after Venom: Let There Be Carnage’s post-credits scene landed Eddie and the symbiote in the MCU, nothing ever came of their multiversal excursion. However, the events of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars offer a clear path for Venom and Spider-Man to cross paths as the multiverse collapses in on itself. The two enemies could finally come face-to-face on Battleworld as part of the Multiverse Saga’s epic crossover finale, finally giving fans what they have been hoping for ever since Venom came out in 2018.
The book may not be closed on Venom’s character, even after The Last Dance. Hopefully, future iterations of the Lethal Protector will adhere more closely to the comics, exchanging the humor of the Venom trilogy for the darker tone that the character deserves.
Venom is streaming on Disney+.
Release Date
September 28, 2018
Runtime
112 minutes
Director
Ruben Fleischer
Writers
Jeff Pinkner
Producers
Avi Arad, David B. Householter, Kelly Marcel, Matt Tolmach, Stan Lee, Tom Hardy, Amy Pascal, Howard Chen
Michelle Williams
Anne Weying
Tom Hardy
Eddie Brock / Venom