A closer look
Sony initially rejected the idea of producing the first Venom movie because executives fundamentally believed that a superhero film focusing entirely on a villain without Spider-Man would completely bomb at the box office. When they finally took the gamble, Tom Hardy essentially carried the entire production by acting like a sweaty, sleep-deprived maniac arguing with an invisible parasite in his head, turning the film into an absolute global financial juggernaut. The massive success of this incredibly bizarre buddy-comedy alien movie immediately convinced Sony that they could launch an entire cinematic universe of obscure Spider-Man villains, leading to the spectacular failures of Morbius and Madame Web. The executives learned the completely wrong lesson, failing to realize that audiences didn't want random lore about blood-sucking vampires, they just wanted to watch a highly acclaimed actor eat live lobsters out of a restaurant tank
