The Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters has grown as of late. The Venom movies are an indicator of the fact that things are moving in the right direction for sony. But everything was not this sorted at the start of everything. Originally Venom was supposed to be John Carpenter-like body horror movie made on a meager budget. But then sony changed it. Here is why Venom was changed from a Horror movie to an Action Comedy.
Sony made a deal with marvel so that the beloved Spider-Man character could return to the MCU. The studio had already made a trilogy with the character. Sam Raimi’s movies did very good on the box office and impressed critics and fans alike. Then came Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man series, but that was halted after just two movies. All this while, it was rumored that Sony wanted to make a spin-off Venom movie. But they did not want to invest huge piles of cash into it. They did not want to make a high-budget action comedy but wanted a low-cost horror show using the two minds one-body trope.
It would have been interesting to see Venom as a haunting ghost rather than a symbiotic partner. Especially given the voice and nature of the Symbiote this characterization would have fit particularly well. The remnants of Sony’s vision can be clearly identified in the theatrical release of Venom. There are moments in the movie where Venom looks especially menacing. Where he takes up the role of the antagonist rather than a morally grey anti-hero. The score of the movie is also in line with these moments. But there is no question that the final version of the movie is not a horror flick.
The Reasoning
The Ultimate reasoning for the change in Sony’s vision is the same reason any studio does anything, money. Sony did not amend its plans for Venom until they saw the Box Office results of Spider-Man: Homecoming. They then threw about $110 Million at the production of the movie and brought it down to a PG-13 level from being R-rated. The change was to bring the MCU flavor into their universe and keep their future options open. Sony has regularly expressed interest in seeing Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Tom Hardy’s Venom share the screen. They want the rogue’s gallery to meet their hero counterpart. We can see that the interaction would be interesting to witness and we have historical comic evidence to support this claim. But the final say lies with the studios and not with fans.
With the release of Venom: Let there be carnage later this year we are entering the territory of the standalone franchise with the Venom films. Don’t get me wrong, we love the Tom Hardy-led franchise, but it would be nice to have the big gun show up soon. Yes, obviously, I am referring to Spider-Man. It is still murky if and how the MCU and SPUMC are related, but if they are, this is the connection that should be established before all others. Venom and Spider-Man are two sides of the same coin. The character ideology clash is perhaps one of the best in the comics. To see it play out on the silver screen is a dream of the fans. Especially, given that the last time Venom was featured in the movie the character was made into an edgelord and not a threatening villain.
The consensus
Fans do not have a lot of love for the third installment of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man series. One of the main reasons for this is the treatment of Venom. Now that we’ve finally seen a good Venom movie, we hope that the hype can be transferred over to the MCU too, eventually.
I think we can reliably conclude that the Venom movie’s theatrical release version was embraced and loved by all the fans. It was a beautiful portrayal of the character and more in line with the comics than anything seen before. We have continued to hope that the MCU would take this opportunity to learn from the SPUMC. If they do understand what Sony accomplished we can get more conflicted characters like Thanos. It will benefit MCU, especially at this stage in their franchise. But the MCU will still remain the MCU along with Disney’s adamant nature.
Do you think we covered everything about Venom? Did we miss something important? Let us know in the comments below and keep watching this space for everything Marvel.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage arrives on September 24, 2021.
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Also Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myrsGrJ2dlY&t=4s&pp=sAQA
