Audiences feel more powerful than ever. They can even turn a head-eating alien symbiote into a queer icon.
The power of fandom is something that has quickly become mainstream to those even outside of the realm of laptop screens and TikTok fancams. Writers and marketing teams are more accepting of fandom interactions, giving fans more agency in the direction of the film and TV shows they love. One of the best examples of this is undeniably Venom, Sony’s attempt at building a larger Spider-man universe. The film was released to unenthusiastic criticism, but quickly became a hit at the box office, making $856.1 million worldwide.
The film skyrocketed in popularity on Tumblr and Twitter, where protagonist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom (also Tom Hardy)–the symbiote who inhabits his body–became one of the most unexpectedly popular ships of the last 10 years. (For the uninitiated, a “ship” is what it’s called when fans root for two characters to get together romantically or sexually, whether or not that’s part of their storyline—or indicated sexual preferences.)
“Eddie and Venom explore each others’ bodies every single day. [...] Their arc from the first film into the second is a classic enemies to lovers story,” Louis, a 25 year-old Arts PR worker from the U.K., tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed.
The film franchise follows Eddie Brock, a journalist who is attempting to take down the wealthy CEO of the Life Foundation, a company engaged in space travel and human experimentation. While investigating these experiments, Eddie’s body merges with an alien symbiote, leaving him with superpowers, and another being inhabiting his body.
The subliminal queerness of the franchise, at this point, almost supersedes the film’s reputation as a part of the superhero genre. “I had seen so many jokes about them being boyfriends just on Twitter, but I’m still on Tumblr and the fan art for Venom/Eddie is always everywhere,” says EIC of OffScreen Central Kenzie Vanunu. “When The Bikeriders came out, so much Tom Hardy content was all over the feed and despite having a new movie [out], it was literally still Eddie x Venom work.” Though the first film was released six years ago, Eddie and Venom shippers have continued to shape the film’s legacy, propelling the series into the queer cinematic canon.
It wasn’t until 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage that the franchise began to embrace its queer fandom back. In the second film, Eddie and Venom are the picture-perfect example of domestic bliss. The two cook for each other, and are overwhelmingly protective of one another. There’s even a big breakup that threatens to fracture their relationship forever. This ultimately leads to Venom separating himself from Eddie and going on his own quest of queer self-discovery at a rave.
Director Andy Serkis described this sequence of events as Venom’s “coming-out party.” The scene makes the series’ queer subtext “feel unsubtle,” says Louis, which is something that as they’ve progressed, the Venom films have embraced entirely.
Subtext has quickly become text with these films, which fans say is because of their dedication.. “I think people discredit fanfiction or fandoms as unserious,” says Kenzie. “But, not only is there some real talent within those [spaces], they have an unmatched passion for their favorite [media].”
Since February of 2018–eight months before the first Venom film’s release date–the Venom tag on fanfiction website Archiveofourown.org has amassed 6051 works. There are new works posted onto the site daily, with many of them focusing on Eddie and Venom finally realizing their feelings for each other, and pursuing a relationship.
The superhero genre has had a long history of fans shipping characters—and, arguably, the films themselves queerbaiting those fandoms.
From Steve and Bucky of the Captain America trilogy to Carol and Maria in Captain Marvel, fans have desperately looked for even the smallest clues regarding their favorite characters' sexualities. The MCU has spawned over 508,154 works of fanfiction in the last 16 years. Even with there being a palpable waning in enthusiasm for Marvel projects in recent years, these pieces of queer fanfiction are still being written, tweeted, and blogged about each and every day. While the actors and writers of the MCU films often got fans excited with promises they obviously never intended to keep, the people behind Venom have instead done something radical: They’ve given their dedicated fans what they want.
In Venom: The Last Dance, the titular symbiote engages in a dance break set to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” and he and Eddie refer to each other as Thelma and Louise. While these two instances may not be as glaring as Carnage’s coming-out scene, they are two examples of these films engaging with its audience’s perception of who Eddie and Venom are; two dudes who found each other by happenstance, and are now able to exist as their true queer selves.
By further exploring the dynamics of this volatile relationship, the filmmakers have allowed Venom to become permanently intertwined with its fandom and the fanworks this community has produced. The Venom films operate almost like a rom-com that just happens to take place in a universe where aliens and superheroes exist. Instead of disregarding the fan reactions to the series, the talent behind it, from Hardy himself to director Andy Serkins, have embraced the film’s inherent campiness. “The tagline for the final film is ‘Til Death Do They Part,’ clearly even Sony knows!” says Kenzie.
But, it’s not simply the smutty fanfiction or erotic fan art that draws people in. Venom hits at a more tender spot for some. Andrea, a 23-year-old journalist from Denver, states that “all of us carry two sides [...] that we can become scared of, and I think we’re all capable of having monstrous thoughts. It’s what you do with that that defines you.”
In the first film, Eddie is down on his luck after losing his job and being dumped by his fiance, Anne (Michelle Williams). Once he becomes possessed by Venom, he has to juggle the violent urges this possession brings on and the person he believes himself to be. Each of the films sees Eddie struggling with his identity, and the idea that he may not actually be a good person to his core. But, as he shares these thoughts and desires with Venom, the two of them are able to heal the most broken parts of themselves, together.
As the series has progressed, each film has become more queer than the last. Earlier this year, Sony released a trailer for Venom: The Last Dance during Pride month, and earlier this week, marketing for the film consisted of an ad where Venom facetimes with rapper Megan Thee Stallion. It’s clear that the marketing team understands this contingent of the films’ fanbase. Even this new film’s title, Venom: The Last Dance proposes that maybe these weren’t meant to be hollow imitations of the superhero films of the past. “Queer cinema is rife with so much ‘so bad that it’s good’ stuff,” says Andrea. “We should be able to enjoy [campy superhero films] like straight people.”
It’s like The Shape of Water, but gayer and less sophisticated. These movies “don’t take themselves seriously, [or] aspire to tell any grand story,” says Louis. “[They] lean really hard into the absurdity of it all.” Venom’s queer fandom inadvertently saved the series from disappearing into obscurity amid the current lack of enthusiasm for superhero films, and to thank the fans, the filmmakers have in turn given them the stories they want.
Venom is proof that sometimes fans—whether they’re queer or not—can be a powerful vessel that determines what kind of audience these projects can amass. By being so vocal over the last six years, the Venom fandom has morphed this series into a meaningful trilogy about identity and codependency. And of course, one that proposes that sometimes, aliens can be so sexy they force you to reevaluate your life choices.
