Venom’s trip into the mcu was stupid and disappointing - I can’t believe he bounced
from post credit scene to post credit scene and left without as much as seeing a Peter
Parker from a distance.
It seems like a lot of set up just to get the black suit over to the MCU, when it would
be perfectly acceptable for Peter to discover it the same way we’re used to.
You know, because it’s a multiverse.
No one expected Norman Osborn to drop off some Goblin formula to MCU Norman did they?
In my mind it would seem like a massive cop out if he simply returns home in the threequel
- so what if he does get home - the long way round?
Venom 2 aka Venom Let There Be Carnage saw him face… uh… lemme see here…
Carnage, and they killed him off in just one appearance.
That’s a bit sad considering Carnage is Venom’s number one big bad, and even with
multiverse rules it would seem a bit redundant for Tom Hardy to face yet another Woody Harrelson.
So if everyone is getting a taste of the multiverse in this next phase, why not make the antagonist
of Venom 3 the guy that was meant to get the lead in the spin off when it first got developed
in 2007?
That’s right - bring back Topher Grace’s venom as the ultimate-weasley-little-s***
antagonist to Tom Hardy’s anti-hero Eddie Brock in a multiversal showdown.
The movie starts with the final battle of Let There Be Carnage, and it plays out identically
to that movie… until we witness Kletus Cassady murder Hardy’s Brock in cold blood.
After mercilessly dispatching Venom, Carnage is staggered to find another Venom emerging
out of thin air - he peels his face back to reveal Topher Grace, in a similar but bulkier
and more distorted look akin to his 2007 look.
Why does he look different?
We get our answer when Grace effortlessly kills big bad Carnage and absorbs his symbiote
- taking on flashes of red colouring and becoming even more powerful.
We realise this is a similar but ultimately different earth to the one where we saw in
the canon Let There Be Carnage Ending - and much like Morlun in the original Spider-Verse
comic, Topher Grace’s Brock is going through the multiverse killing variants of the same
man; plus any other symbiote that gets in the way.
Topher Grace’s Venom knew Peter Parker’s identity - so it stands to reason that he
escaped his death in spider-man 3 and was sent to a different reality like the other
No Way Home villains.
Venom was meant to travel to the MCU but after just facing defeat at the hands of Spider-Man
and having multiversal symbiote knowledge the other No Way Home villains didn’t, an
ability established in the previous movie, Topher Brock is able to fight the urge to
end up there and is instead thrown across the multiverse from the spell.
Which leads us to Tom Hardy’s Venom dropping into… the Amazing Spider-Man universe.
Here the core dynamic is established - that of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man trying to
ascertain who this strange visitor is and whether or not he’s a threat.
Garfield is perfect for this Venom.
Not only is he the only Spider-Man who hasn’t fought an alien [I wanna fight an alien] he’s
clearly the darkest of the No Way Home trio.
He noted that after Gwen he stopped pulling his punches, so maybe by pairing him up with
the lethal protector himself the movie could explore that a bit more.
Plus Tom Holland will have his own black suit story down the line…
Tugboat obviously had a venom…
Why not put Hardy with Garfield?
Hardy never had a Spider-Man in his origin story, and Garfield never got to have a venom.
Why is Topher Grace Brock killing other versions of him?
Well, in Spider-Man 3 he is humbled and humiliated - his confident sense of self is shattered
and the only thing to pick up the pieces is the symbiote - which he then loses control
of mere hours later.
Even with the symbiote he was nothing, something the alien creature drills into his head - you
are pathetic - useless, and weak.
Brock’s overriding objective is to be strong - stronger than any spider-man - stronger
than any version of himself that’s seemed to achieve so much more.
He’s essentially killing the other Brocks so that he can build armour around himself
and satisfy his emotional instability.
When he’s the only brock left, finally he’ll be the most worthy version of himself.
Finally he’ll be whole.
Why mash Venom with Venom?
Well villain movies are never villain movies - my number one problem with everything from
Venom to Morbius is that to make the villain the protagonist they have to neuter them into
being essentially good guys.
Black Adam was a superhero, Kraven is going to be an animal lover?
What?
You mean the villain who’s a big game hunter and routinely wears animal fur?
Maybe you should just, I don’t know, stop making villain movies unless you’re going
to commit to the villainy.
Protagonists don’t have to be good or even likeable for them to be compelling.
Finally there’s a venom in the titular solo series who is a truly evil, unsalvageable
bastard.
He’s a creep and a fraud in Spider-Man 3 with virtually no redeeming qualities, so
when you juxtapose him with the relatively heroic Tom Hardy Venom it’s a good chance
to play up just how awful this version of venom can be - he crosses the lines our solo
series Venom never would.
We actually lean into the fact these villain movies are bogus and suggest that we’ve
never been following a bad Eddie Brock but there are others out there just like him…
who have indeed walked that darker path.
We posit that what makes Hardy Brock special is he’s the most moral out of all multiverse
Brocks, and so is his venom - in an infinite multiverse of possibilities these two found
each other in the same place and are the perfect fit - their apparent moral centre in spite
of being symbiotic killers means they’re potentially the only symbiote team that can
take this all-consuming sinister Venom variant down.
They’re outcasts even to themselves, but unlike Topher Grace who lets that eat away
at him and pushes him to villainy, this discovery only strengthens Hardy Brock and his venom’s
bond.
They truly do care about each other.
Just when Hardy and Garfield are starting to get along, with a clear task ahead of them,
a new spanner is thrown into the works…
“Were fighting… me?”
*Gun cocks*
“I wouldn’t wanna fight me neither…”
Enter Agent Venom!
Okay if it went like that it would be super hokey but it would be hilarious if he dropped
that line somewhere in the movie, cmon!
Anyway, rather than Tugboat coming over, as goated as he is, I think it would be more
unexpected and more awesome to see Joe Manganiello reprise his role as an older Flash Thompson
in his agent venom guise.
He was a great Flash, it makes sense that the symbiote would survive in some tiny form
and find a new host in Peter Parker’s old bully after Spider-Man 3, and he would be
vastly different in appearance and spectacle to the other venoms.
I’d like to see Agent Venom go full John Wick.
I also think it would be a meta pay off for Joe getting booted off Deathstroke - a relatively
similar militaristic assassin type character.
Agent Venom would certainly have echoes of his deathstroke, and it would be a great way
for him to finally fulfil that role in some form.
Garfield shouldn’t dominate the movie and I think his role should be similar to Black
Widow in Winter Soldier or Banner in Ragnarok; strong supporting heroes that get enough to
do for it to be fun and worthwhile without overshadowing the eponymous hero.
And then Flash Thompson would be likened to our Civil War Bucky Barnes; he’s a potential
third hero but also comes into repeated conflict with our leads because of his own goals and
motivations.
He’s a rogue who we can’t be sure of.
You know how in a multi-doctor they are ultimately a team - in a multi-master they end up hurting
each other - do it like that.
This is venom vs venom vs venom - they can’t trust each other.
I’d structure it like this; you know how John David Washington gets a bronnection with
Robert Pattinson and they’re tenet bros but later on a new third tenet bro comes in
played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and before you can say “temporal pincer movement”
we’ve got a trifecta of tenet bros.
Flash Thompson should come in like that; the third heat to shake up the story just as the
audience was getting comfortable with the Hardy / Garfield brit party.
Topher Grace is a great actor and I think his roles in
everything outside of Spider-Man 3 proves that.
He’s despicable as David Duke in BlacKkKlansman, where he injects that same kind of smarmy
veneer that made his Eddie Brock so cringe-inducing.
In Predators, he plays a conniving serial killer in a sorely underrated part, ending
up just as intimidating as the titular aliens in spite of being a psychological rather than
physical presence.
There’s nothing to suggest that his characterisation as Venom would be bad in a follow up appearance;
if the writing and direction can tap into what made those antagonistic roles compelling,
whilst also giving this venom enough to do and properly test our heroes, then he could
go from one of the worst to one of the best cinematic Spider-Man villains.
I could also see people making the argument that he's pretty weak in spider-man 3 - we’ve
seen the tom hardy venom pull off way more powerful feats.
But I think his relatively low power level to start could totally play into that - I
think having a villain like that makes them hungrier, more conniving and ultimately more
conspiratorial.
Like you know how George Lucas wanted Darth Maul to be the big bad of the sequel trilogy,
even though he's just an apprentice in the very first movie to the first six films big
bad?
We like a villain that becomes more evil and more powerful as he rises up to the a-list.
If he's travelling the multiverse killing venoms and taking their power then I could
totally buy him being this god tier venom by the end.
And remember he almost killed Tobey Maguire, who as we all know is the strongest spider…
Make it r rated, make it funny, make it bonkers - the second movie was a step in the right
direction.
At a lean 90 minutes it was hard to hate it and I think the character has enough mileage
in him to deliver more fun action comedies.
Venom 3 could redeem Topher Grace’s Venom, it could redeem Joe Manganiello’s missed
opportunities, and it could finally give Tom Hardy an epic venom movie as grandiose as
Spider-Man.
Now watch him return to his home universe to face another brightly coloured symbiote
with a decepticon name from the c-list halls of marvel canon in the real Venom 3.
Ah, well.