There was a time when it was hard to believe that Venom would ever become a movie headliner. The Marvel Comics villain was always one of Spider-Man's most popular villains, sure, but he was just that: A villain. But somehow, someway, the alien symbiote pulled it off, achieving similar levels of popularity as his more famous foe and headlining his own movie franchise.
Prior to the release of Venom, the character had played a supporting role in 2007's Spider-Man 3. The effects in that movie were very convincing, but audiences weren't sold as the film's complete overcrowding prevented any of its villains from shining. But that certainly wasn't the case in 2018's Venom, which gave Eddie Brock and the symbiote the spotlight in what can only be described as an absolutely bonkers movie.
Tom Hardy portrays the reluctant hero in the film series, who finds himself bonding with the alien symbiote living within him. Eddie and Venom make quite the pair, and fans all over the world have fallen in love with their completely chaotic relationship.
The Sony Pictures pair's story will end with Venom: The Last Dance and even though it's set to be a bittersweet ride, it looks like it's going to be an absolutely outrageously fun one, too. And with that in mind, that gives us the opportunity to reflect on the Venom franchise and rank all three of its movies.
Honorable mention: Spider-Man: No Way Home
Spider-Man: No Way Home may be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe but it also holds a loose link to the Venom franchise. As Sony produces the Spider-Man movies for Marvel Studios, they were able to feature a reference to their Venom movie series due to the film's complex multiversal plot (which sees Spider-Man heroes and villains from across the multiverse make their presence felt on the MCU).
Tom Hardy appears in the post-credits scene, which picks up after the post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. He's sitting at a bar before he is pulled back into his own universe, leaving behind a trace of the alien symbiote for some poor soul in the MCU to potentially bond with.
Objectively, Spider-Man: No Way Home is the best movie that Venom has appeared in, but since it's not technically part of the Venom movie trilogy, we can't include it in the main ranking. That doesn't mean we can't honor it, however.
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3. Venom: Let There Be Carnage
If there was one word we could use to describe the first Venom movie, it would be fun. The film was so completely off-the-wall that, even if you didn't completely buy into what was happening, you just went along for the ride because it was an experience - and a fun one at that. While its 2021 sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, certainly attempted to recreate that success, it wasn't entirely successful in doing so.
The same formula was there, setting up its premise pretty quickly and adopting an admirably tight runtime once again to ensure that the adventure never outstayed its welcome. But, given that this movie was dealing with a character as complex as Carnage, this tightness almost worked against it. Once the plot started rolling, it just kept rolling through all of the inconsistencies in tone and questionable story developments without really giving audiences a chance to process any of what was happening. Things were just happening because they could, and it was just too much at times.
Cletus Kasady certainly worked as an intimidating villain and he seemed evil enough to serve as a host for Carnage but the character was extremely underdeveloped, with only the beginnings of a backstory trickling through in the film's final act. Nevertheless, Woody Harrelson committed to the role and delivered on all fronts as the chilling antagonist.
The film also struggled with its tone, as its darker storyline robbed it off that sense of fun that the first one thrived on. It was still there at times, but it was ultimately lost in a very over-the-top and yet underdeveloped plot that didn't make the most of its characters.
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2. Venom: The Last Dance
Venom: The Last Dance is the final installment in the Venom trilogy and its main focus is on bringing the story of Eddie Brock and Venom's unusual bond to a satisfying conclusion. It struggles with that on occasion, losing focus at times, but I'll be damned if the final act of the movie isn't one of the most bonkers showdowns I've ever seen in a movie. It's wild, and it's wild in such a way that only Venom could be.
The film sees Knull, a.k.a. The King In Black, send a bunch of Xenophages to track down the unlikely pair, kickstarting a chain of events that makes Venom realize that his home world has begun to catch up with him. And those Xenophages are large, violent creatures designed to destroy anything that gets in their way, making them the most ambitious threat that Venom and Eddie have ever faced - which is saying something considering that they literally just got finished battling Carnage.
The truth is that Venom: The Last Dance is a tale of two halves. The first is slow, drawn out, and not really capable of making the most of its intriguing storyline, while the second is outrageously larger-than-life, ridiculously entertaining, and insane to the end; everything that we've come to know and love from the Venom franchise. It's also quite emotional, which is a reminder that this franchise is capable of moments of depth whenever it wants to be. Some more of those wouldn't have gone amiss throughout the three movies, but there is no denying this one hits here.
The film does throw a lot of opportunities away, particularly the handling of Knull - which just feels like a bit of a letdown - but all in all, Venom: The Last Dance is a mostly satisfying way to end one of cinema's most unique trilogies. If the rest of the movie had been as strong as the final act, it would have been the best of the three.
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1. Venom
Let's take things all the way back to the beginning with Venom. I thought long and hard about which of the movies in this trilogy I enjoyed the most, and the truth is that the back half of The Last Dance put up a good fight. However, there is something about the relatively straightforward plot of the first film that helped it win out here.
None of the Venom movies are particularly complex, favoring linear storylines over emotional depth, and you know what it wears that skin well. But the first movie wears it best, offering up a purely entertaining 90-minute adventure guaranteed to make you forget about everything else in the world when you're watching it.
Tom Hardy made a convincing debut as the broodier Eddie Brock, but the reason that Venom works so well is that he is able to be whatever the script needs him to be at any given time. From his grounded performance as the committed journalist in the first act to his excellent comedic work as the symbiotic duo of both Eddie and Venom in the other two, he's incredibly watchable and highly entertaining.
The Venom movies know exactly what they are and a large part of that is down to how the first film in the trilogy unapologetically established that from the offset. These aren't designed to be highly-complex, thought-provoking game-changers; they are outlandish 90-minute spectacles simply designed to entertain. And they do that oh-so-well.
Venom left audiences wanting more, and even though the franchise never quite exceeded expectations, it delivered what it does best each and every time. As a fan of entertainment, you can't really ask for more than that.
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