The Last Dance keeps the series' weird streak alive

Key Takeaways

The Venom franchise embraces B-movie sci-fi entertainment with light lore and lean runtimes.
The story revolves around amorphous alien symbiotes that seek out host bodies and generally cause chaos.
Despite the title, there will surely be many more stories to come that include Venom and other symbiotes.

While there’s only been a handful of MCU titles this calendar year, there are still a couple Marvel characters heading to the big screen this year. Most notably, Eddie Brock and his symbiotic friend return for the third and supposedly final entry into the Venom franchise. Back in 2018, Venom was somewhat of a surprise hit, offering an entertaining and often-funny comic book adventure that embraced B-movie antics instead of world-building and myth-making.

Tom Hardy plays Brock and voices Venom, an alien symbiote that shares his body and isn’t quite villainous, but also certainly isn’t a noble hero. The 2021 sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, made a lot of money despite mixed reviews, but maintains a goofy tone and lean pace. The conclusion makes its way to theaters on October 25; here’s everything you should know to get ready for the much anticipated movie.

Venom: The Last Dance

Release Date: October 25, 2024
Director: Kelly Marcel
Cast: Tom Hardy , Peggy Lu , Stephen Graham , Cristo Fernández , Juno Temple , Alanna Ubach , Rhys Ifans , Chiwetel Ejiofor
Main Genre: Adventure
Writers: Kelly Marcel , Tom Hardy
Studio(s): Columbia Pictures , Marvel Entertainment , Pascal Pictures
prequel(s): Venom , Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Franchise(s): Spider-Man , Venom
Character(s): Eddie Brock / Venom , Mrs. Chen , Patrick Mulligan , Bartender

Venom is the star of Sony’s chaotic Spider-Verse

A different approach makes these films fun and easy

Sony

Sony and Disney basically share custody of Spider-Man in a complicated and strange way, but basically, Sony has been making movies about Spider-Man villains because that’s what it can do, and they’ve all been pretty bad except for the Venom franchise. Venom has worked for a lot of reasons. Aside from being just one of the most popular comic book characters of all time, the first two Venom films have succeeded because of their pacing, tone, and lack of importance on myths, lore, and heroism. The first two films tried to limit exposition and refrained for the most part from trying to connect to other characters and stories or set up other films and franchises, endeavors that can make MCU movies cumbersome and tiring. Brock also doesn’t have some higher purpose or grand calling; he’s just trying to get by, and I can relate.

The films also seem to be making a point to be over and done with in good time. All three films have a runtime under two hours, which isn’t the most common when it comes to comic movies, and the second entry clocked in at a brisk 97 minutes. It’s a welcome reprieve from the heavier, longer films that have populated the cinemas.

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All about symbiotes

The amorphous aliens make for a fun visual

Marvel

The thrust of these films surrounds symbiotes, alien parasites that are generally aggressive that need hosts to survive. In Venom, samples are brought to Earth by some scientific enterprise that doesn’t really know what they’re dealing with. One of the symbiotes, Venom, joins with investigative journalist Eddie Brock, and while Venom initially wants to join his kind in devouring hosts and destroying planets, he later has a change of heart. So Venom and Eddie work together to take on another symbiote, Riot, to protect humanity. Symbiotes are for the most part violent, carnivorous, and full of big id energy. They tend to vibe on the host as well, exacerbating their worse qualities.

That these symbiotes can sort of move around from host to host mostly undetected allows for these stories to pretty much keep going; the second film finds another symbiote in Carnage finding a host and the movie proceeding in similar fashion to the first. The third film looks to bring many more symbiotes to Earth; exciting!

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It’s not the last dance

The end of the trilogy marks a new beginning

Sony

Despite the ominous title, no comic book character is really ever gone from the big screen. This will be the last dance for Eddie and Venom until it’s not. If the movie does well, and it’s poised to make money, then there are any number of possibilities and opportunities in the future for Eddie and Venom to return, even if it’s not their own starring vehicle. Perhaps Eddie departs and Venom finds a new host, as has happened many times in the comics. Trailers suggest a lot of symbiotes are going to be making their first appearances, and with a new Spider-Man trilogy coming, there is plenty of opportunity for anyone from the Venom franchise to pop up in the future.

Perhaps most notably, the supervillain Knull is shown in the trailer. Director and co-writer Kelly Marcel has said, however, that Knull isn’t the main villain, and it looks like there are more stories to come.

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No one is sure what to make of the business of comic book movies

Are they thriving or flailing?

Deadpool-and-Wolverine-still-2024-MCU-01

20th Century Studios / MARVEL.

It seems with each and every superhero film, there is some kind of analysis that takes place in the hopes of understanding just where fans are when it comes to these movies. Making each movie a referendum on the industry is an easy way to fill space online, but a lot of it seems unnecessary. Venom: The Last Dance is likely going to be a box office hit; the first two made a lot of money, with fans embracing the beloved character and the breezy tone.

But any look at the film with respect to all the superhero movies is going to be pointless. Deadpool & Wolverine was wildly successful despite many bad reviews and the complete lack of any plot. It was just a movie a bunch of friends wanted to make. Because of all the money it brought in, it resets Marvel for the future following a string of supposed clunkers. The Sony Marvel universe, one populated by Spider-Man-adjacent characters, has been a failure outside of Venom. And there’s no reason to believe the forthcoming Kraven movie will be any good.

All of this is to say that no one superhero movie is going to change the landscape. Some movies resonate with audiences and some don’t; no one is going to get tired of superhero movies if they’re entertaining. The first two Venom films don’t take themselves particularly seriously, providing some kinetic if at times confusing action with a lot of silly antics. I’m in.