Does Venom Need Spider-Man?
As promised, Sony dropped a third, and seemingly, final Venom trailer this week giving us our first full look at Tom Hardy’s Venom. With the previous trailers, we have been given a glimpse of what Venom will look like when he hits the big screen this October but this latest trailer didn’t hold anything back. We got the skin crawling demon voice. We got a full-scale look at the size of Venom and he’s massive. And we got the tongue in all it’s gross-ass glory. There was one thing we didn’t get though… Spider-Man.
Which begs the question, does Venom even need Spider-Man?
There is essentially one answer to this question but we can get there by traveling down a couple of different avenues. The long answer to this is question is yes, of course, Venom needs Spider-Man. Duh, that’s a dumb question. Although the shorter answer says maybe not right away. Hear me out.
I don’t think a Venom franchise is sustainable without Spider-Man. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. You’re going to give comic book fans a character they’ve been clamoring for for years. A character who needs motion picture redemption (thanks Topher). And then you’re not going to pair him up with the arch-rival that makes his character important in the first place? Just sounds silly to me, but then again, so does a bunch of the things Sony is doing with the Spider-Man Universe. Don’t get me wrong, a Silver Sabel and Black Cat movie sounds fun and all but how interesting are those characters without the Spider-Man interactions? Can they stand on their own? Maybe but probably not.
The thing about the Spider-Man Universe is it works because of, you guessed it, Spider-Man. All these characters/villains are made better because of their relationship with ole Web-Head. Once you remove that connection some of these characters start to lose their charm. Look at it this way, the Riddler is interesting and all but would you see a Riddler movie without Batman? You probably would but you wouldn’t like it. The Riddler can’t work without Batman and most of the Spider-Man Universe can’t work without Spider-Man. This includes Eddie Brock/Venom.
Which brings us to the very interesting nature of Venom. I do believe that Venom can work without Spider-Man… for a movie. Only one. Based on these trailers we can see that Eddie Brock is living on the West Coast which keeps him at a pretty far distance from East Coast Spidey. While comic book purists will complain that Brock and the symbiote need Spider-Man to make the suit, I’m willing to look past this. There’s no white spider on the chest of Venom just yet and that could be something that changes once he interacts with Spider-Man. It could be a mark of his obsession. This first Venom movie can be used to establish the force that is Venom. Really raise the stakes for how much of a powerful monster this creature is while also humanizing Eddie Brock a bit. Yes, Eddie blames Peter Parker for the way his life turns out, but you can still find a way to connect the two in a future movie. It’s not going to be overly difficult.
Looking at the events of this trailer one could safely assume that Eddie Brock will need a change of scenery after the events of Venom. Maybe he’s on the run. Maybe he just needs a fresh start. Either way, what better place to go than New York City? It’s massive! Brock can easily hide out there or start fresh. Just think of all the possible people that Venom could feast on. Well, until Spider-Man shows up. And boom now your established Venom faces off against the MCU’s established Spidey and fanboys, like myself, lose their collective minds.
That’s the ideal version of how this plays out but nothing is certain. Sony seems willing to play ball with Marvel Studios when it comes to the use of Spider-Man but it almost seems like they want to build this cinematic Spider-Man Universe sans Spider-Man out of spite. What’s the purpose here? If you’re already playing ball with Marvel why not have Venom lead up to an eventual MCU showdown? One has to believe Sony likes making money and Marvel Studios has proven that they’re very good at doing that. Putting these two together on screen seems like a no-brainer, and I think the longevity of the Venom character needs it.
You can get away with one movie without Spider-Man as long as there is a promise that the two won’t be kept apart. I can guarantee a number of people will see Venom opening day searching for that MCU connection. If it’s not there though, watch how quickly audiences turn. Yes, fans want Venom on the big screen but they don’t want him alone. They want him battling Spider-Man across New York City… like he was meant to be.
What do you think Geeklings? Can the Venom movie work without Spider-Man? Do the two ever have to face each other on the big screen? Sound off in the comments. If you’d like to continue the Venom and/or Spider-Man discussion you can find me on the Twitter @iamgeek32. I can’t be the only one who feels this way, right?
Kevin Carey is an
unapologetic geek who strongly
believes his mind works much like an episode of
Community. Has a strong love for pop culture that focuses on
TV, comics, movies,
and books. Kevin also enjoys writing fiction and has self published a short
story to
Amazon. While awaiting his Hogwarts acceptance letter, Kevin lives on
Long Island with his cat and extensive
Pop Vinyl collection. You can find him here on Fan Fest, at his blog I Am Geek, or the I Am Geek Podcast spreading geekiness to all.
