Villains are oftentimes more interesting than heroes. So, it isn’t surprising when a villain becomes popular enough to warrant his or her own comic/movie/book/etc. The latest, according to IESB, will be Venom, one of the three villains featured in the horrible superhero sequel Spider-Man 3. For Marvel Comics readers, this isn’t that shocking. Venom received his own comic titles long ago, and disappointingly turned semi-good-guy vigilante. But will the movie spin-off be the same kind of water-down? If we look at the two ways a villain spin-off typically goes, it’s probable.
First, there’s the villain origin piece, which includes movies like Hannibal Rising, The Scorpion King, Wicked, the upcoming X-Men Origins: Magneto and of course the Star Wars prequels. They attempt to show how the evolution of a wronged person who becomes the iconic villain we’re familiar with. They try to make us sympathize, but usually they just come close to ruining the character. Rarely there is an origin storyline that makes us like the character even more, as in the case of The Godfather Part II’s flashbacks. Fortunately, we already witnessed the Venom origin in Spider-Man 3 and won’t be subjected to one in the proposed Venom movie.
