Why Venom Fans Didn't Like Venom

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I liked the way the character was presented in the movie, and loved the way he looked, but SO much more could have been done with him, even in the final battle.

 

[Victarion]

I liked the way the character was presented in the movie, and loved the way he looked, but SO much more could have been done with him, even in the final battle.

I somewhat agree with his presentation in the movie, though the "What the hell?" line kinda brought me out of Spider-Man 3 and back into That 70's Show. He needed to really be solidified as a bad guy: kidnapping Sandman's daughter to coerce him into helping kill Spider-Man and then fulfilling his clingy-ness and bringing Gwen to the construction site rather than Mary Jane.

 

[November Rain]

the problem with the movie venom was that he never ever intimidated spidey, spidey was never scared of him or what he could do or worried about mj's kidnapping or even worried whether he could take him on or not

heck he happily attempted to take on both sandman and venom without any help, that's the impression we definitely get without him going to harry and asking for help

 

[Doctor Jones]

Because he wasn't bulky. That's one of the most complained about things I hear. They say he should be intimidating physicaly, but that's not what it's about. It's how you play the role. It's about doing justice to the material. I'm not saying Venom was acurate. And he wasn't. But I could care less. I like Grace as Brock. I loved the whole doppleganger angle. But, yes, there was so little of him. I think if Raimi had Venom/Eddie in there from the beginning, and not Arad shoving him up his ass on short notice, Raimi would of given us a hell of a Venom. Let's face it, would a bulky, muscular guy work well standing next to Maguire at the Bugle? Maybe If Grace had better direction, I don't know. But I just blame Arad. You can see gems in Grace's performance. Like when Eddie says, "Do you remember? Do you remember what you did to me?" I could just feel that humiliation. And I liked him as Eddie. Maybe when an extended edition comes out we'll have more of Eddie. I know there are some more scenes with him. So sue me.

 

[The Major]

Doctor Jones:

Venom having more bulk would have aided him in being seen as more of a physical threat visually to Spider-man but all he really needed was to act menacingly not a loser who was more worried about cracking jokes then being a villain.

They could have done this with Topher Grace's Venom.

 

[DACMAN]

I think if Raimi had Venom/Eddie in there from the beginning, and not Arad shoving him up his ass on short notice, Raimi would of given us a hell of a Venom.

How is 3 years short notice? Directors are given things they have to work with all the time. Nolan was told he had to work with Two Face and the Joker, Raimi was told he had to work with JJJ and Robbie, Singer was told he had to work with Wolverine, Cyc, Jean, the Prof., Storm, and others. Directors are told all the time to make things work and are given the characters they have to work with. And Raimi blew it. I'm tired of people excusing him like they MADE him make a crappy villian, and MADE him miscast Eddie Brock.

 

[Jick]

^^I think you have a point, Dacman, but the difference here is that Raimi truly didn't like Venom.

and what I didn't like about him?
- his reason to being desperate seemed so forced.
- he asked Sandman's help, which wasn't necessary, since Spidey could barely touch him when Venom first attacked. Venom was already pwning him without help.
- unmasking all the time.
- his voice.
- little screen time.

what I liked about him was his visual and his mouth sometimes. it kept changing all the time.

 

[Venom 1988]

- he asked Sandman's help, which wasn't necessary, since Spidey could barely touch him when Venom first attacked. Venom was already pwning him without help.

Exactly. Venom could have easily done so without Sandman, he just wanted to overwhelm him. Everything else I agree tho...

 

[The Major]

^^I think you have a point, Dacman, but the difference here is that Raimi truly didn't like Venom.

and what I didn't like about him?
- his reason to being desperate seemed so forced.
- he asked Sandman's help, which wasn't necessary, since Spidey could barely touch him when Venom first attacked. Venom was already pwning him without help.
- unmasking all the time.
- his voice.
- little screen time.

what I liked about him was his visual and his mouth sometimes. it kept changing all the time.

The worst thing is Venom doesn't come across as a threat most of the time. Especially in the scenes where Venom has MJ and Spider-man in the web.

 

[MonBeeb]

Venom didn't have to be huge but he should have...acted huge. He should have been menacing and frightening. He should have come off as an actual threat. He shouldn't have been giggling and making innuendos. That's not Venom at all.

 

[King of Kings]

I liked Grace as Eddie/Venom, my problem was that he wasn't menacing enough and he never really got under Spidey's skin so to speak.

 

[Lantern Venom]

I love Venom. He might well be my favorite villain of all time. So why didn't I love him in the movie? I think I finally figured it out. Eddie Brock wasn't huge. He wasn't a body builder like in the comics. And for those that want to argue he wasn't that big to begin with...

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Brock,_Eddie

6 foot 3, 260 pounds. He's a big guy. So why is this a big deal to me? Why would that change his character? Because, Spider-Man aka Peter Parker used to be a nerd. He got beat up all the time in school and he had a lot of self-confidence issues. Spider bites him, he becomes a superhero, gains confidence and so on. He leaves high school, becomes good buddies with the guy that picked on him. But along comes Venom. A guy that can do everything he can, but is bigger, meaner, and out to pick on him (see Larson run). He is the ultimate bully, the ultimate jock. He is actually stronger than Spider-Man so he CAN pick on him. But since they made him a "doppleganger" of Peter, it took away from the true meaning of the character, a bully. A bully that knows everything about Peter, can do everything he can, but better.

In SM3, there wasn't just one thing wrong with Venom. Everything was wrong with the character. Eddie Brock was a cheater who flies off the handle at one failure instead of a guy who experienced failure for a lifetime in his personal and professional life despite trying to play by the rules. The character had no depth at all. Strike 1.
The symbiote just happens to fall out of the sky and find Peter. Then, Brock just happens to be under Peter when it's removed. These were the very definition of easy ( and stupid ) plot devices. We didn't get Eddie focusing his displaced anger on Spidey nor the symbiote seeking out Eddie ( the symbiote had no personality at all in the movie ) to for a joint revenge. Strike 2.
Well, if Brock is screwed up and the symbiote is screwed up, there is little hope for Venom. We should the snarling, towering antagonist who stalks Spidey, overpowers him several times to the point of Spidey being fearful, and tries to screw with Parker psychologically. Instead, we get a laughable "mirror image" Venom played by an untalented, emaciated actor who a) teams with a villian ( something Brock didn't like doing in the comics ) instead of having a single battle with Parker and b) is beaten by Parker in a relatively short span. Strike 3. Go to the dugout.
From start to finish, Venom was gutted. It's never a good idea to stray too far from source material and that is exactly what SM3 did. Are you surprised that people hated the BlowphieVenom? Sheesh, I'm not.

 

[The Navigator]

The symbiote just happens to fall out of the sky and find Peter. Then, Brock just happens to be under Peter when it's removed. These were the very definition of easy ( and stupid ) plot devices. We didn't get Eddie focusing his displaced anger on Spidey nor the symbiote seeking out Eddie ( the symbiote had no personality at all in the movie ) to for a joint revenge. Strike 2.

I never understood why they didn't just use John Jameson and some variation of TAS origin, since he was already in SM2.

 

[DACMAN]

Use him to bring the symbiot to earth, or use him for Venom? They should have used him to bring to symbiot to earth. They shouldn't have used him for Venom.

 

[Venom75]

I think what should've been done is a combination of both cartoons,TAS and SSP. Say Spider-man 3 starts with the announcement that John Jameson(or NASA)has discovered a unique new life form in space(the symbiote). The symbiote will be brought to Empire state for Curt Connors and staff(Peter included)to study and research. While being studied it could be known that this organism feeds off negative emotion and possible when cut into,can regenerate itself(which would set up the Lizard perfectly for part 4). Then say,one night while Peter is alone in the lab the New Goblin attacks and the lab is destroyed,but in the fight the symbiote gets free and attaches itself to Peter. And there ya go. It's a simple story,but explains alot more about the symbiote and how it got here than just "it came from space."

 

[DACMAN]

Sounds good. But where do they find it at to begin with?

 

[Dr. Fate]

In SM3, there wasn't just one thing wrong with Venom. Everything was wrong with the character. Eddie Brock was a cheater who flies off the handle at one failure instead of a guy who experienced failure for a lifetime in his personal and professional life despite trying to play by the rules. The character had no depth at all. Strike 1.
The symbiote just happens to fall out of the sky and find Peter. Then, Brock just happens to be under Peter when it's removed. These were the very definition of easy ( and stupid ) plot devices. We didn't get Eddie focusing his displaced anger on Spidey nor the symbiote seeking out Eddie ( the symbiote had no personality at all in the movie ) to for a joint revenge. Strike 2.
Well, if Brock is screwed up and the symbiote is screwed up, there is little hope for Venom. We should the snarling, towering antagonist who stalks Spidey, overpowers him several times to the point of Spidey being fearful, and tries to screw with Parker psychologically. Instead, we get a laughable "mirror image" Venom played by an untalented, emaciated actor who a) teams with a villian ( something Brock didn't like doing in the comics ) instead of having a single battle with Parker and b) is beaten by Parker in a relatively short span. Strike 3. Go to the dugout.
From start to finish, Venom was gutted. It's never a good idea to stray too far from source material and that is exactly what SM3 did. Are you surprised that people hated the BlowphieVenom? Sheesh, I'm not.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

 

[Venom75]

Sounds good. But where do they find it at to begin with?

Well,it looked looked good in TAS when it was discovered in certain rocks while on an expedition to collect samples on either the moon,or Mars. I wouldn't think they would have to show it though. Once brought back to earth,Connors(or NASA) could just mentioned it during a press conference. After all,if such a life form were actually discovered...a life form that can actually move and behave as the symbiote does,then it would be major news.
I actually thought it was rather weak to have Connors examine it as in the film. Peter just shows up to the lab one day with this amazing find and Connor's reaction isn't as shocked and astounded as it should have been.

 

[Spider-Man '92]

My biggest disappointment is the fact that he wasn't called Venom at any specific time. I would have stood up cheering if he at one point said "We're poison to you Spider-Man, that's why we call ourselves, Venom".

 

[DACMAN]

Well,it looked looked good in TAS when it was discovered in certain rocks while on an expedition to collect samples on either the moon,or Mars. I wouldn't think they would have to show it though. Once brought back to earth,Connors(or NASA) could just mentioned it during a press conference. After all,if such a life form were actually discovered...a life form that can actually move and behave as the symbiote does,then it would be major news.
I actually thought it was rather weak to have Connors examine it as in the film. Peter just shows up to the lab one day with this amazing find and Connor's reaction isn't as shocked and astounded as it should have been.

It was a passing asteroid in the cartoon. And I thought the same thing about Connors. "Well it seems it might be an alien. Don't get any of it on you."

 

[Spider-Man '92]

I too hate how they introduced the symbiote. A random asteroid crash is just dumb. All they had to do was add a few more minutes to the run time, and replace the Crane scene with a Shuttle crash, and this movie would have been way better.

 

[TheFuture]

I liked the portrayal of Venom in S-M3 but I had a few minor gripes.

• Venom's voice, too humane.
• Screen time
• His death
• And last but not least, teaming up with Sandman. I can understand that it was done for convience, but Venom shouldn't need anyone's help in beating on Spidey.

 

[Toxin72]

The only thing I didn't like about venom was that he recruited sandman. It didn't really bother me and I get why it was in the movie but I just didn't think it was very venom like. I would have also liked him to be in the fight a bit more but other than that I thought he was fine. With the exception of him getting killed off it isn't to far off from the original comic in the way that it was really just one fight with venom then he's defeated. He even refers to himself as I in his original appearance. So for me if they kept him alive he would have been perfect but the way it was it's still great.

Edit: I'd also like to add that I had no problem with the voice either. In the original appearance it never gives any clue as to what his voice even sounds like. Up until the 90s cartoon I always thought of venom as having a normal voice (I've only read the first couple venom appearances though so I don't know if it hints to him having a monstrous voice in later comics.)

 

[American_Hobo]

TOpher Grace only had small amount of time, and they treated him like a second-rated villain. And he wasn't menacing at all.

 

[Eggyman]

TOpher Grace only had small amount of time, and they treated him like a second-rated villain. And he wasn't menacing at all.

I thought his sex-fiend voice was very menacing. I remember watching it at the flicks, seeing him up that dark ally with Sandman, wondering if he was going to bite him, rape him, or bite him and rape him.