Here’s Why We Think Tom Hardy’s Venom Lost It’s Potential! (Photo Credit – Netflix)
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Venom: The Last Dance hit theaters as the final chapter in Eddie Brock and his gooey alien ride-or-die. And just like that, the trilogy wrapped with the same messy symbiotic energy it began with – wild swings, awkward tone shifts, and a version of Venom that never quite found its bite.
Across all three films, Sony’s Venom franchise never fully embraced what made Venom, well, Venom. It had the pieces: a gritty anti-hero, decades of comic book lore, and Tom Hardy ready to lose himself in the madness. But the movies played it safe instead of diving into the dark and twisted world of one of Marvel’s most terrifying characters. They leaned more into buddy comedy than brutal chaos.
That missing edge was the root of the problem. In the comics, Venom was born from hate, forged in violence, and operated in that murky gray area where justice had claws. But on screen, he turned into an awkward, slapstick alien who argued more about snacks than morals. Sony had a chance to lean into the horror, the kind that could have made fans flinch even while cheering. Instead, they gave us punchlines over paranoia.
Tom Hardy could’ve delivered that unhinged version. Fans knew he had it in him. He played Bane with brute force, brought madness in Legend, and gave us raw grit in Mad Max: Fury Road and Warrior. If those shades had colored his Eddie Brock, we might’ve seen the vicious protector comics fans worshipped. Instead, Brock became a twitchy, overwhelmed host who never truly merged with the monster inside.
Even The Last Dance, pitched as a final farewell between two bonded outcasts, failed to show a real partnership. Their chemistry stayed stuck in sitcom mode. The “Lethal Protector” title got tossed around but never earned. Comics painted Venom and Brock as a deadly duo, feared by enemies and sometimes even allies. On-screen, they couldn’t even agree on breakfast.
And then there were the villains – forgettable, underwritten, and watered down. Carnage, one of the most horrifying villains in Marvel’s rogue gallery, got nerfed into a one-note CGI baddie. The core detail that made him chilling, referring to himself as “I” rather than “we,” never made the cut. Knull, a significant figure in the symbiote mythos, barely got a mention before vanishing like a deleted scene.
Sony had the right tools to build something bold and brutal. Instead, they softened every edge until nothing stuck. Ultimately, Tom Hardy’s Venom didn’t become the legend he could’ve been. He just ended up swimming in a lobster tank. Turns out even a symbiote can lose its identity.
