Venom

After a high-profile scandal ruins reporter Eddie Brock's career, he claws back toward relevance by investigating a biotech company with suspicious experiments. During his probe he becomes bound to Venom, an alien symbiote whose appetites clash with Eddie's instincts. The pairing gives him extraordinary strength and unpredictable urges, while it drags him deeper into a conflict with the company's charismatic founder and his own moral code. Their uneasy alliance mixes dark humor with brutal action, and the film balances chaotic mayhem with quieter moments where Eddie and Venom argue and test each other's limits. Corporate experiments escalate and rival scientists pursue similar symbiotes, creating a race to weaponize them that threatens public safety and forces Eddie to reassess what matters.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Venom adapts Marvel characters by David Michelinie, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg. Tom Hardy leads, joined by Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed, and it opened in 2018 from Columbia Pictures, and it was heavily marketed worldwide.

Venom proved a strong commercial success, earning over $850 million worldwide. Its box office performance made it one of the more profitable superhero releases of 2018, encouraging studio interest in sequels and a modestly expanding shared franchise and merchandising deals.

The film sparked lively online discussion, largely around Tom Hardy's performance and the film's tonal shift toward dark humor and action. Memes, GIFs, and fan art proliferated, and studios took note, greenlighting a 2021 sequel while cementing Venom as a recognizable antihero outside traditional Spider-Man films across comic book fandom.

Critics were mixed, praising Hardy's commitment and the dynamic between host and symbiote, while pointing out uneven plotting and tonal swings. The movie leans into themes of identity, companionship, and control, using visceral set pieces to contrast with quieter, often humorous exchanges between Eddie and his alien counterpart, for audiences.