Sony’s Venom will be crawling his way onto the big screen this fall, much to the thrill of the villain’s fans. The character of Venom, a black-clad symbiote that earned his street cred as a Spider-Man villain, has never had a solo debut on the big screen. There’s a lot more to be excited about when talking about Venom however, and here are five of those reasons:
1. Venom is scary, and that’s a good thing.
When Venom hits the big screen, it’s not just going to be an action movie; it has been labelled by the cast and crew of the film as an Action/Horror/Sci-Fi flick. That middle piece of the puzzle, horror, is important. The scariest that Marvel has ever gotten in the past was 2007’s Ghost Rider, and that was still just an action movie. Venom is set to break the monotony of action piece after action piece, and with Sony’s help, it should hopefully have true elements of terror.
- Sony and Marvel’s relationship could change with Venom’s release.
While Sony and Marvel have split rights over Venom the character, Sony themselves are solely responsible for the production of this year’s adaptation of the symbiote. This is important, because what Sony does with Venom will surely determine whether or not Marvel is interested in seeing the villain make his way into even bigger and better things… maybe even the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that Venom is currently independent of.
- It’s an R-Rated film. Like some of the best ones have been.
In 2016, Fox released Deadpool, the R-rated adaptation of the happy-go-lucky homicidal hero. In 2017, they released Logan, the gritty, realistic display of Wolverine, which was also R-rated. Both of these films were considered fantastic, netting an 83% and 93% approval rating, respectively. That’s not even mentioning Marvel’s Netflix series The Punisher, which is also R-rated, and also critically-acclaimed. It’s not too much wishful thinking to assume that the more adult-themed Marvel pieces end up being fan favourites. Venom looks like it may be 2018’s addition to the mature masterpieces.
- It could kickstart “The Villain Universe.”
The heroes have gotten enough of the spotlight. It’s certainly time that the villains of Marvel, and their backstories get the big screen, not just some screen time in the latest hero flick. Venom is a huge first step in this direction. If the film does well, it could surely be followed by the likes of other evil-centric Marvel films. Green Goblin, Loki, Dr. Doom… any of these could make for fantastic big screen appearances where they are the star. Not their tights-wearing antithesis.
- It could redeem Venom.
Like it or not, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 happened. With it, the scrawny, rushed adaptation of Venom happened, too. Fans believed this interpretation of the symbiotic webslinger to be poorly made, and it was one piece in a puzzle of letdowns that inarguably made Spider-Man 3 the most poorly-rated entry in the trilogy. 2018’s Venom could the remedy to fans woes. Perhaps the infamous villain can be redeemed, and his role on the big screen will no longer be subject to mockery. Venom could be a name worthy of respect, that fans can be proud of. One can hope.
With that, one can only imagine that the cast and crew behind Venom are working hard to live up to expectations when it hits theatres on October 5. Until then, you can enjoy the trailer here.
