Venom

Scott Hardie: I'm very reluctant to see this.

I loved Venom when I was a teenager reading comic books, but he came from the same violent, disturbed, bleak era in comics that made mega-hit superstars out of the Punisher, Wolverine, Spawn, the Crow, Lobo, Cable, and other maladjusted freaks. With the arguable exception of Wolverine, these heroes all lack optimism and moral character. Venom wasn't even a hero! What made him such a great villain was his brutal devotion to killing Spider-Man to the exclusion of any other life goals; he symbolized death itself, that specter haunting every hero in the corner of every fight. He was so popular with readers that Marvel tried making a hero out of him (and making him a peaceful ally of Spider-Man), robbing him of the one thing that made him interesting.

I'm all for a movie that doesn't utterly waste Venom the way that the disappointing Spider-Man 3 did. But between my distaste for that era of "heroes," and my automatic distrust of any Spidey-adjacent film that Sony rushes into production without Marvel involvement (because Sony has had such a great track record of quality control), I'm unlikely to see this. − December 31, 2018 • more by Scott

Evie Totty: I totally understand your reluctanance. Let me assure you - Venom appears to be 'valorious' at one point but: He is definitely betting on himself to come out on top and be at the apex of the food chain.

It is really a fun watch. − January 1, 2019 • more by Evie