I like Venom, but I haven’t always liked him in the movies. In fact, I’ve never liked him in movies. The disappointment of the goofy Spider-Man 3 (2007) speaks for itself, but Venom’s solo franchise run, dating back to the original, is as whelming as it gets. The first film, simply Venom (2018), was perhaps the best 2006 superhero movie of the 2010s. It felt dated and generic, throwing the genre’s cliches into a shitty salad. But make no mistake, I’m aware of why people like the movie and what made it a massive hit. Humanizing the symbiote via its bond with Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) made for a fun bromance. I wish that relationship was in a better movie, but it is what it is, yet more on dumb and dumber’s friendship later.

Then, Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) arrives, seemingly more in line with what I’d like to see in these movies. Sure, it’s still “Hero faces a version of himself” like the last flick, but Carnage is way more entertaining and interesting than Riot. Plus, Woody Harrelson is playing Carnage in a Natural Born Killers (1994) homage? Sounds promising… but because the Venom movies are so popular and also appeal to a lot of kids, the studio clearly is reluctant to take this in a darker direction that would fit with Carnage’s history. Meanwhile, the movie’s central romance between the antagonists, on top of Michelle Williams’ declining screentime, leaves a lot to be desired. It’s better and more visually creative than the first, but it falls short of its potential. Then there’s a stinger that teases Spider-Man: No Way Home, a moment that leads nowhere other than just an ad for the next movie, and there’s just a lot of corporate maintenance getting in the way of this film.

Which finally gets us to Venom: The Last Dance, the trilogy capper for a character I never expected to have a trilogy. The premise of the movie is that both earth and the symbiote’s home world are after the title characters. Let’s see where the goofball shenanigans have led us this time:

They turn the horse into Venom – humanity has peaked. But beyond that, this just looks much more fun, especially in comparison to the original. These movies are comedic, but the gags haven’t always landed for me. Yet I don’t know if it’s a bigger budget or a really good pitch from the filmmakers, but this trailer showcases the bizarre zanyness I can get on board with. I don’t know what social event Venom is dancing at, but can we get him at the Met Gala also? I want Venom throwing the first pitch at Fenway Park before going on a bender club hopping.

The best part is I think this silliness can still live side by side with Venom’s darker, more violent tone, depending on how it’s balanced. It’s never going to be as brutal as the comics, which it’ll have to make up for with good character work. One of the more famous lines from the original is the symbiote stating that it’s just a ‘loser’ on its home planet. Now, said home planet is bringing a surprise fight to Venom. I do hope there’s more to the backstory to the symbiote than some exposition and a couple of quick gags. If you’ve made this effort to personify this character, then give it a better story that gives context to what happened on their home world, and how did their life get better on earth?

There’s also the case of the antagonists threatening to take away what the audience holds dear – the Venom persona along with the relationship between Eddie and the symbiote. That’s intentional, obviously, on a meta level – that is why they’re the baddies. I don’t believe for a second that this is the last we’ll see of the entity of Venom, but we could be winding down on the Tom Hardy era of the character. I’ve never really cared much for these movies, but if it goes out on a high note, then things could be worse, I guess. But I think there is something different about this movie compared to the last two – there seems to be a willingness to throw the kitchen sink at the audience. I just hope that if the movie is good and does the trilogy’s best performance in terms of acclaim and box office, that it isn’t used as an excuse to just give us a less creative, blander 4th film to cash in on that momentum. But for the last dance: I’ll be seated, reluctantly, one last time.

Venom: The Last Dance takes it personally when it opens in theaters everywhere on October 25, 2024.