Sorry Sony, it’s nothing personal. Your Venom movie simply won’t work and it’s really not your fault. It’s because the mediums of movies and comic books are too different to do this character’s origins justice.

October 3rd sees the release of Sony’s new Venom movie starring Tom Hardy and the reaction to the movie thus far has been… lukewarm at best.

From the early teaser trailer which was rather confusingly released without special effects and contained not even the slightest hint of the titular character to recent revelations that the movie has been cut to target a PG-13 rating, even the most ardent Spidey fans have been reluctant to get behind the film.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly Venom, arguably, works best as a villain. A counterpart to Spider-Man. His defining characteristic in his early appearances is his overwhelming hate for the wall-crawler.

For me and others, a Venom movie in which he lacks this motivation isn’t true to the character.

Secondly, we’ve been burnt by Sony and more specifically their aims to create a Spider-Man franchise before. ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ may genuinely be one of the worst comic-book movies I’ve ever seen. In fact, I’d say it’s barely a movie at all. Scenes seem to crop up from nowhere with little or no reliance on a narrative thread.

Much of this comes from Sony’s desire to have the movie lead into a proposed ‘Sinister Six’ movie. In a particular scene, we see a basement full of the enhancements of several of Spider-Man’s heaviest hitters. There are the arms of Dr Octopus and the wings of the Vulture.

“Roll up! Roll up! Grab your pre-made supervillain suits.” Not how a great enemy is created

Rather fan causing fanboy glee, this moment exposed Sony’s cynical view of the franchise and perfectly shows they really don’t understand these villains. What makes most Spidey rogues so interesting is the way that the Marvel writers carefully crafted their origins. We can feel a certain empathy for them, understand why they are doing what they are doing.

For example, Dr Otto Octavius doesn’t become a villain because someone hands him a backpack with robotic arms. He is twisted by years of scorn and mocking by colleagues. He’s a victim of bullying who snaps after a tragic lab accident.

His origin has depth.

And that’s why I can’t get behind the Venom movie. It can’t possibly give the character the depth the comic books did. That means it is always going to be an inferior version of the character.

The symbiote: A scorned lover?

The thing to note about the comic book version of Venom is that he doesn’t actually have a singular origin. He, or more accurately, they, actually have two. And these origins weren’t just told over the span of 22 pages, as is the case with even the most beloved of comic book heroes and villains. Venom’s twin origins actually took place over a huge array of various Spider-Man comic books.

It’s apt to actually talk about the ‘venomy’ part of Venom first. The symbiote that bounds with failed photographer Eddie Brock to form Spidey’s nemesis.

The symbiote was first introduced in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #252 published in May 1984 as simply Spider-Man’s new black suit when our hero returns from the toy shifting mega-crossover event Secret Wars.

Amazing Spider-Man #252

Readers have to wait until December and the publication of Secret Wars #8 to see how Parker received his new costume on an alien world after his red and blue threads were destroyed in a battle with a god-infused Doctor Doom.

It wasn’t until later that Peter discovered, with the help of Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four that the costume that responded to Peter’s thoughts, was actually not just a living creature, but a symbiote aiming to permanently bond with him.

Naturally, Peter rejected the symbiote and asked Reed to imprison it until further notice, deciding to swing around in a fabric version of the design. Of course, this being a comic book, this didn’t go according to plan. The symbiote soon escaped from the Fantastic Four’s headquarters.

The symbiote once again attempted to forge a permanent bond with the wall-crawler, but Pete was able to use its vulnerability to intense sound against it, driving it off in a church-bell-tower.

There the symbiote lurked, like a lover scorned plotting its revenge until one Eddie Brock entered its life.

Eddie Brock. The rebound.

Eddie’s origin isn’t quite as complicated as that of his slimy companion. In fact, Eddie doesn’t even feature in the story that caused him to develop a hatred for Spider-man that would rival that of the symbiote.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #107 opens on one of the most shocking panels in Spidey comics history. The brutal murder scene of police captain Jean DeWolfe, one of Spider-man’s closest allies at the time.

She is the first victim of a serial killer committing religious based homicide and referring to himself as the Sin-Eater. During the course of this seminal story that pushes Parker to the edge of sanity and has him genuinely considering taking a life, the wall-crawler takes down what appears to be the Sin-Eater whilst attempting to kill J. Jonah Jameson.

With the help of Daredevil, Spider-man discovers that the man he caught, Emil Gregg, is not the killer but rather a copy-cat inspired by hearing the actual killer talking on a tape recorder through his apartment walls.

The real killer is caught, but not before the Daily Globe, a rival New York paper to Jameson’s Daily Bugle, publishes an expose on Gregg naming him as the Sin-Eater. When he is revealed to be a mentally unstable copycat, the journalist that broke the story is ruined.

He loses everything, his reputation, his job and even his wife.

That journalist is Eddie Brock.

Brock retreats s to a local church to commit suicide, bemoaning loudly his hatred for Spider-Man who solved the identity of the Sin-Eater and ruined him (Daredevil gets off quite lightly here I think).

In a twist of fate, this is the same church were Peter shed the symbiote. A union based on hatred is formed.

Pure Venom.

Venom: a serialized villain

So why exactly do I think that the Venom movie can’t do this story justice?

It’s simply because of the difference in mediums. Venom’s dual origin is a beautiful example of story-telling that is rarely available to non-serialised mediums. It benefits from its slow build, its gradual development. Various turns of events build a character in a way that is rarely seen in fiction.

The story of Venom, the full story, developed over four years. From the symbiote’s first appearance in #252 to the full reveal of Venom in issue #300, that story simply can’t adequately be told in 90–100 minutes.

As a comics reader in the ’80s I truly brought Venom’s motivations. His one goal was to kill Spider-Man and we understood why. We’d seen it grow, we’d seen the paths of the symbiote and Eddie Brock converge.

The character was also unique because of a rare scorned lover angle. The symbiote loved Parker. His rejection of it caused pure hatred and drove it to another.

He was also unique because he had been a part of Peter’s life. He knew who Peter loved, his insecurities and fears and was prepared to exploit every one of them.

And if you don’t buy the idea of the symbiote as a scorned lover, consider how Parker defeats Venom in its second attempt to take his life in Amazing Spider-man #317. In a tense beach showdown, Parker removes his costume and offers himself to the symbiote. He encourages it to leave Brock so they can resume their relationship.

The trauma of trying to separate from Brock knocks both parties unconscious.

We won’t see any of this in the movie. Spider-Man won’t be featured, even a cameo has been ruled out at this point.

When the two finally meet how can Venom’s hatred of Parker be so beautifully weaved?

The truth is that it can’t. Not over the course of one film. That means that cinema-goers may never understand why Venom is one of the greatest comic book villains ever created.

The writers and artists who created Venom did so by using their medium to its maximum effectiveness in a way that is rarely achieved in comic books. I simply don’t believe this story-telling alchemy will translate to the silver screen.

I hope I’m wrong.