WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, now playing in theaters.
Eddie Brock and the symbiote Venom are back on the big screen after three long years in the new film Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The movie picks up about a year and a half after the events of Venom, with Eddie’s journalism career getting back on track through a series of interviews with the serial killer Cletus Kasady. But the most affirming aspect of Venom 2 is getting to see Venom and Eddie’s relationship flourish. Director Andy Serkis fully embraced the queer undertones of the Venom-Eddie dynamic from the comics and the first film to make a superhero love story worthy of praise.
Some queer folk are hesitant to praise Venom 2 for depicting a queer relationship between Venom and Eddie because of the implications about queer folks being long-stereotyped as monsters or aliens. Since Marvel movies have long struggled with meaningful queer representation, the most visibly queer relationship being between an alien and a human might be off-putting to fans striving for representation. Other queer folk embrace the relationship between queerness and monsters in their storytelling, using monsterness as a metaphor for the way it feels to be queer in an unaccepting world. To embrace monsters is to embrace otherness in all its shapes and forms, which is where the appeal of the Venom-Eddie relationship lies for those who love the Venom films.
When Venom was first released in 2018, some critics placed it in the rom-com camp. While major publications like Vox and The Atlantic found the story lacking, they praised the moments of the film that emphasized the Venom-Eddie relationship. Eddie finding his perfect symbiotic match a year after a break-up with Anne, the woman he was engaged to be married to, sweetens the deal and gives the pair an unconventional meet-cute. When Venom and Eddie re-bond for the big fight against Carlton Drake and Riot, Venom passes through Anne to Eddie through a passionate kiss -- one Anne insists was Venom’s idea. The movie flirted with the queerness between Venom and Eddie from the get-go, which made it such a hit with fans.
The physical symbiosis doesn’t come without its challenges, though. At its core, Venom is a classic “opposites attract” rom-com story. Venom is obviously a brain-hungry, bloodthirsty alien with different morals about murder than his human counterpart. Eddie also doesn’t immediately warm to the fact that he has an alien occupying his body and eating away at his organs. They have a fight where Eddie says he thought they were a “we,” a common trope in rom-com arguments. When they bond together at the end of the film, they both recognize it’s good to have each other around and Venom admits that Eddie changed his mind about invading Earth in a heartfelt moment.
Venom 2 welcomes the queer undertones of the Venom-Eddie relationship with open arms and creates an iconic superhero romance in the process. Early notes for the film called it a "love story" and had the subtitle "Love Will Tear Us Apart" instead of “Let There Be Carnage,” and Serkis says that Venom and Eddie are very much in love despite the worn-off honeymoon phase. In classic rom-com fashion, though, Venom and Eddie reaffirm their connection and love by the end of the movie.
When fans see Venom and Eddie in Venom 2, the pair are going through a rough patch. Venom wants to eat brains and fight bad guys, Eddie wants to pursue his career as a journalist and not have the symbiote hijack his life. After Venom attacks Cletus during an interview, Eddie’s frustration with Venom’s intrusiveness culminates in insults and an explosive break-up/divorce scene. Venom even says the classic “take your stuff and get out!” line from numerous rom-com fights. It’s through their break-up that they realize they can’t live without each other. Venom goes to a rave -- one that co-writers Tom Hardy and Kelly Marcel wanted to be "an LGBTQIA kind of festival" -- where he walks around fully-formed to the praise of his fellow party-goers and happily proclaims this is his coming out of Eddie party. But the joy doesn’t last long: Venom’s hosts are too weak to sustain him long-term and he wishes Eddie could have seen him be so proud.
Venom and Eddie’s big reunion follows even more classic rom-com apology tropes. Mediated by Anne, Venom asks Eddie for an apology and to beg to have him back. It’s an amusing, light-hearted moment as the symbiote holds off his forgiveness and Eddie deepens his apologies before Venom accepts. Their symbiosis is further emphasized in the final battle since Cletus and Carnage don't have symbiosis; this realization gives Venom and Eddie the strength they need to defeat him once and for all. It’s only through the power of their love and bond that they can become the best versions of themselves.
The queerest moment of Venom 2 comes in the very last scene. Earlier, Venom complained to Eddie that he wanted to be free and feel the wind in his hair and the sand between his toes. The closing scene shows exactly that, which Venom thanks him for. Eddie apologizes that he can’t do anything about the wind in Venom’s hair, which Venom counters with the Osho saying, “if you love a person, you accept the total person, with all the defects.” It’s a love confession that Eddie teases him for but doesn’t reject, suggesting he loves the symbiote back. Eddie vows to be the Lethal Protector with Venom and they stare off into the sunset together happily and very much in love.
Instead of baiting long-time fans of the Venom and Eddie ship, the creative team of Venom 2 actively acknowledged it and worked it into the story to great success. They built upon the queer subtext and rom-com elements of the first Venom to give fans a movie that embraces every bit of the twisted romance between the human and symbiotic pair. Venom 2 suggests that Venom and Eddie are at their happiest and most successful when they’re together, reaffirming their obvious love and care for each other. Serkis and Hardy want more Venom sequels, so fans should expect to see the relationship between a certain human and his alien life partner deepen even further.
You can watch Venom and Eddie’s relationship grow in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, playing exclusively in theaters.
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