Is Venom Gay?

Movies

Questions about when the next Venom movie comes out just became loaded. In an interview with Uproxx, Venom: Let There be Carnage director Andy Serkis talks about a scene in the upcoming film that takes place at a rave. Serkis describes the rave as “sort of an LGBTQIA kind of festival” and says it’s Venom’s “coming out party” and that the flesh-hungry symbiote delivers a speech about equal rights for aliens that is “speaking for freedom of the other.” Evidently, a lot of this stems from a song called “Venom” written by Little Simz about – well, if you can figure out what these lyrics mean, you’re smarter than I am. But Serkis, Tom Hardy, and writer Kelly Marcel have decided it has something to do with gay rights, so they’ve concocted this scene that “was originally going to be a carnival of the damned.” Finally, after some prodding, Serkis referred to Venom and host Eddie Brock’s relationship as the “central love affair” of his movie. Well, now.

Getting right to it, I don’t think Serkis is saying that Venom and/or Eddie Brock are gay in Let There Be Carnage. I think he and the other creatives managed to shove an equality message into the movie that, from the sounds of it, isn’t a theme so much as an out-of-place scene designed to get them pats on the back from their Hollywood peers without getting their film banned in China. The reason I say it sounds like it was shoved in – aside from the fact that most of these scenes feel shoved in nowadays – is that the initial idea, the “carnival of the damned,” sounds one hundred times cooler but was scuttled for what will probably be a thinly-disguised lecture. It doesn’t seem like a logical analogy either; if people don’t accept an alien life form like Venom, it’s probably because he’s a monster who eats them. How big a win is it for gay acceptance if you compare homosexuals to that? People can easily be forgiven for drawing different conclusions, though, because Serkis’ description is a rambling mess, and he’s clearly being baited by the interviewer (who works for Uproxx, so, of course, he’s pushing social justice nonsense). Look at the way that last “question” is phrased; it’s like he’s daring Serkis to say Venom and Eddie aren’t gay, which we all know they’re not. But Serkis can’t be honest because saying straight characters are straight is a thought crime, so he answers as vaguely as possible, stopping short of affirming that they’re a romantic couple but talking about “love” in general. It’s hard not to feel bad for him, having to tiptoe around some nutjob he isn’t allowed to refute.

What’s your take on Andy Serkis’ comments? Do you think Venom is gay now? Did you ever imagine we’d be yearning for the shoehorned-in “Don’t do drugs” scenes of the 90s? Let us know in the comments and stick around Geeks + Gamers for more movie news!