Venom
| Live-Action Film Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Venom |
| Director: | Ruben Fleischer (2018 film) Andy Serkis (Let There Be Carnage) |
| Production companies: | Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment |
| Reveal date: | 2016 |
| Release date: | 5 October 2018 (2018 film, United States) 1 October 2021 (Let There Be Carnage, United States) |
| Genre: | Superhero |
| Country: | United States |
| External links: | Official site IMDb (2018 film) IMDb (Let There Be Carnage) Wikipedia (2018 film) Wikipedia (Let There Be Carnage) |
| See also: | Venom (character) |
 Fanposter for Venom. Art by Tiago da Silva | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Venom is a 2018 superhero film directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Tom Hardy. Featuring the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the film follows journalist Eddie Brock, who gains superpowers after becoming the host of Venom, an alien creature whose species plans to invade Earth and annihilate humanity. The film is part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe media franchise and has been described as an adjunct to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. [1]
Even though it's considered a sci-fi and superheroes movie, Sony acknowledged its aspect rom-com -- due to the close relationship of Venom and Eddie -- and launched the VENOM - Official "Rom-Com" Trailer to promote Venom's digital and BluRay release.
A sequel film entitled Venom: Let There Be Carnage was released October 2021.
Canon
Venom 2018
The film follows Eddie Brock, a journalist investigating illegal experiments conducted by Life Foundation CEO Carlton Drake. When Eddie investigates a Life Foundation facility, he is possessed by the alien symbiote Venom. Venom explains that the comet that the symbiotes arrived on Earth from was searching for planets whose inhabitants that the symbiotes could possess and devour. Riot, another symbiote on the comet, arrives and possesses Drake in order to bring the rest of his species to Earth. Venom, who has become fond of Eddie and of Earth, decides to save them both. Brock/Venom fight to destroy Drake/Riot and succeed. In the ending, Eddie returns to journalism while also fighting to protect San Francisco by killing criminals with Venom.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Approximately a year after the events of the first film, Eddie Brock is struggling to speaks to Cletus Kasady, a serial killer. Just before Kasady is executed, he fights with Venom and develops a symbiotic relationship with Carnage, which saves his life. The pair make a deal to kill Brock and Venom, in exchange for freeing Kasady's old love interest.
Meanwhile, Brock and Venom fight. Venom is frustrated with Brock over the limits on who he can and cannot kill, while Brock is frustrated at Venom's interference with his job, which risks revealing Venom to strangers. The two have an argument, and Venom leaves Brock for a time. Anne Weying (Eddie's ex-fiancee) helps the two repair their relationship, and the two manage to stop Kasady/Carnage.
The film ends with Brock and Venom on vacation at a beach, and the pair ponder next steps. The two also tell each other they love each other.
Fandom
Fandom enthusiastically embraced Eddie/Venom immediately after the movie's release. In particular, it was embraced by fans of Xeno, Alien Kink, and Monster Fucking:
Take me back to 2018 when Venom had just come out and previously respectable blogs were out there putting Tom Hardy getting fucked by a slime monster on my tlspideytorchedd [2]
Nearly two-thousand fics were posted to AO3 within the first two months after the movie first hit theaters in the US.[3]
There has also been a notable increase in Venom AU works since the release of the film. In these works, characters from other fandoms take on roles similar to Eddie Brock and Venom; one is the symbiote and the other, a host. There are also Venom crossovers. In some of these works, Carlton Drake successfully bonds symbiotes other than Venom, with characters from another fandom.
The first Symbrock BigBang opened for sign-ups December 1, 2018.
Shipping
Eddie Brock/Venom (Symbrock) is the most popular pairing in this fandom, making up nearly 75% of fics on AO3 as of December 2018.[4]
Other popular pairings include Dan Lewis/Anne Weying, Carlton Drake/Riot, and Eddie Brock/Venom/Dan Lewis/Anne Weying.
Common Tropes
Many fics in the fandom deal with Venom learning how human society works and Eddie learning to live with a symbiote, which gives great potential for domestic and slice of life fic.
Getting together is a very common trope in Venom fandom. The two are never explicitly romantic on-screen, but many fans agree that the film's protrayal of Eddie and Venom's relationship mirrored that of a romantic relationship, and many fics extend that into romantic (and sexual) content. Similarly, first time sexual activity is commonly seen between the two.
Fanworks
Fanfics
- "Mutualism" by Venom by duckmoles, Mutualism by Venom comes out this Tuesday. (In which Eddie and the symbiote write a book, and everyone else proceeds to freak out.) (2018 - locked to AO3 users)
- Ink by monicawoe, Venom admires Eddie's tattoos. (2018)
- you're my cherry pie by novembersmith (2018)
- drawn into something series by Nonymos (2018-2019, OT4)
Podfic
- goddamned oblivion (PODFIC) by opalsong (2018)
- (Podfic) self care by sylvaine (2018)
- (Podfic) But Have You Got The Touch? by annapods, KDHeart, sylvaine (2018)
- It's Fucking Aliens (podfic) by arioch, gondolin, litra and miss_marina95 (2019)
- (Podfic) Retail Therapy by CompassRose, greedy_dancer, UnholyCrowley (2021)
Fanart
Fanvids
- Gonna Make It After All fanvid by astolat cesperanza and monicawoe
Fanzines
Further Reading
- Writer Wednesday: A Guest Post by Daria Defore, Archived version, November 7, 2018. On the rise in public acknowledgement of interest in "monsterfucking."
- Venom Best Romcom Of 2018?? - Symbrock and Symbrock Is Done?? Venom Writer Insults Shippers??, video essays by ShippersGuideToTheGalaxy
Archives, Communities & Resources
- Venom (Marvel Movies) tag at AO3
- Venom (Comics) tag at AO3
Notes and References
Notes
References
- ^ Venom & Black Cat Movies Will Be 'Adjuncts' to the MCU's Spider-Man. Screen Rant. June 18, 2017
- ^ spideytorchedd on tumblr, April 4, 2020, Archived version
- ^ Venom (Movie 2018) tag as of Dec 1, 2018 on AO3.
- ^ Based on the Venom (Movie 2018) filters as of 18 December 2018, Eddie Brock/Venom had 1536 fanworks, out of 2102 Venom fanworks.