"Venom" is a new Marvel superhero/villain movie that is set to premiere in less than a month, on October 5th. The teaser trailer and two full-length trailers have all hinted at a much darker world than the original introduction of Venom in "Spider-Man 3" and the vibe that the current Spider-Man adaptation, "Spider-Man: Homecoming" boasted.
"Spider-Man 3" was somewhat of a joke, so Venom in the movie also ended up being somewhat of a joke. The movie failed on many levels, including an influx of villains, the introduction of Gwen Stacey when Gwen Stacey wasn't really needed or wanted, and the awkward characterization of Peter Parker when taken over by the symbiote that included floppy emo hair paired with black outfits, dancing in the middle of a crowd thinking it looks cool, and becoming the star of impromptu jazz performance. But the worst thing about this movie, which some of these aspects relate to, was the entirety of Venom in all of its awfulness. Venom is too sinister of a character to be introduced in a franchise that had thrived on the likability of its main character and the comical but still evil villains. "Spider-Man 3" makes him into a being that turns Parker non-cool cool kid and Eddie Brock into a whiny boy with more power. The film fell short on making Brock into someone with a significant vendetta against Parker who can now exact revenge, a point that truly sells the character.
"Spider-Man: Homecoming" was more of a mix of humor and realistic enemies and problems that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become known for. It had a villain, the Vulture, that became a bad guy because of how superheroes impacted his livelihood. Peter Parker ends up in a life-or-death situation that isn't overcome as easily as the audience expects. The movie has realistic themes, not so much dark ones. It's hard to tell whether "Venom" will be similar in tone to the MCU. In comics, there can be a lot of different moods and atmospheres because the artistic creativity behind comics allows for those changes. Movies in a series have to linear enough for audiences to follow along even after not seeing the previous film for a few months or a year. Asking an audience member to not only suspend their disbelief on the premise of superheroes but also on the prevailing amusing tone of other Marvel movies is asking a lot.
"Venom" seems like its going to promise an edgy flick with an Eddie Brock that is actually dealing with problems besides Peter Parker, which will surely up his characterization. It remains to be seen whether the flick will feel like a true movie when dealing with some dark material without a level of wit to balance it out. Hopefully, we end up with something along the lines of Marvel's Netflix series like "Daredevil," "Jessica Jones," and "Luke Cage," and less like "Suicide Squad."
