Every Sony Marvel movie ranked from worst to best
By Wesley Bell
11. Venom
Venom was the first movie from Sony set in their new universe and the first to not include Spider-Man at all. After learning they were conducting human trials, reporter Eddie Brock begins investigating the Life Foundation, a genetics corporation that recovered three alien symbiotes. Brock decides to directly confront the CEO, Carlton Drake, which results in Brock losing his job and his girlfriend, Anne, breaking up with him after being fired as the company’s lawyer.
Months later, Brock gets approached by a scientist from the Life Foundation who wants to expose it. Brock sneaks into the facility and attempts to rescue a woman being held there but unknowingly gets one of the symbiotes transferred to him. Drake sends people from the Life Foundation to forcefully retrieve the symbiote from Brock by force. After taking over Eddie’s body and helping him escape, the symbiote introduces himself as Venom, and the two eventually decide to help each other.
Drake bonds with the Riot symbiote, which initially escaped, and promises to help bring the rest of the symbiotes to Earth. After a battle between the two symbiotes and their hosts, Venom blows up the rocket mid-launch, killing Riot and Drake. Despite Brock telling Anne that Venom also died during the battle, the pair secretly remain bonded and plan to continue protecting San Francisco. The post-credit scene features Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady wearing a horrible wig, setting up Carnage for the sequel.
Having two entities share one body is a concept that can lend itself to some interesting set pieces and dialogue, but the film never lives up to that potential. The final fight is a letdown since it quickly devolves into two characters covered in CGI goo punching each other, which doesn’t work compared to the earlier action beats. The movie also has a strange pacing issue where there’s a weird six-month time jump between Eddie losing his job and him getting the symbiote, making it feel even more unbalanced.
Ignoring that having a Venom movie without Spider-Man automatically feels strange because of how connected the characters and their stories are, it’s simply not a great film. While there’s a version of a Venom solo film that could work, unfortunately, this isn’t it.