History Characters / Venom2018

* {{Even Evil has Loved Ones}}: The Venom symbiote despite its violent nature and only using Eddie to bring back its kind to Earth it starts to genuinely care about Eddie and Anne as well as it starts to realise that their planet is beautiful and that the humans got something that it’s kind never did Love and Compassion [[spoiler: so therefore it decides to live on Earth and one of the reasons it doesn’t want its kind to come here because Eddie and Anne will die along with most of the humans so therefore it decides to help them stop Riot from bringing their kind to their planet because it cannot live in a world without the two people that it cares about and loves as well.]]

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: [[InvertedTrope Inverted.]] Eddie isn't shown to have an abusive father, dead mother and sister, cancer, and he takes his firing with [[SelfDeprecation sad humor]] instead of suicidal despair and rage.

* BigNo: [[spoiler: When Venom seemingly sacrifices himself.]]

* CareerResurrection: InUniverse, Eddie gets back his prestigious reporter job at the end of the movie. [[spoiler: He gets then to interview Cletus Kasady at the stinger.]]

* IAteWhat: Immediately after bonding with Venom and running home, it compels him to wolf down a frozen bag of tater tots and, still starving, tears through his garbage and devours half-rotten leftover chicken. [[VomitDiscretionShot He promptly heaves it back up once he returns to his senses.]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler: Riot stabs Eddie with a blade, leaving him to die. However, Venom re-bonds with him, saving his life.]]

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler: Despite his issues, he is never jealous of Anne's new boyfriend Dan. At the end, Eddie is on better terms with Anne, though they're not together.]]

* NeverMyFault: To a degree. [[spoiler: Though he rightly assumed Drake was a bad guy from the start, Eddie's life spiraling downhill was of his own doing. He made the conscious decision to break Anne's trust and view confidential information, then derailed his interview with Drake by bringing up the illegal allegations, which cost him his and Anne's job, as well as their relationship. He blamed Drake for all of this. Anne flat out tells him that it's his fault and he eventually comes to realize this.]]

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Compared to its last appearance on the silver screen at least. The Film/SpiderManTrilogy incarnation is portrayed as a mindless instinct-driven creature, [[TruerToTheText but this version is quite clearly an intelligent being like in the comics.]]

* BadassInDistress: Very briefly, after [[spoiler:Riot tears Venom from Eddie it's about to be consumed but Eddie reforms with it just in time.]]

* BigGood: Of the film, though it is definitely [[GoodIsNotNice not this trope's nicest example.]]

* DisneyDeath: At the end of the movie, the Venom symbiote [[spoiler:seemingly sacrifices itself to save Eddie from the fires of Carlton's exploding rocket, but ends up surviving with no repercussions.]]

'''Venom:''' ''[grins]'' [[BluntYes Most likely.]]

* GrewASpine: It's implied that if it weren't for Eddie's memories, Venom would never dream of [[spoiler:defying his much more powerful superior Riot.]]

* HumanityIsInfectious: Downplayed. While it doesn't come to overly like humanity, Venom does grow to appreciate them and Earth [[spoiler:enough to not let Riot destroy it. Also, it comes to genuinely like Eddie and Anne.]]

* KillItWithFire: It mentions to Eddie and Anne that it has a weakness to fire and [[spoiler: is nearly killed in an explosion near the end, though recovers with time.]]

* NoBiologicalSex: Being a symbiote, it has no defined gender or sex, choosing to assume the form of its host. It never refers to itself by any pronouns but "we". [[spoiler: This is better shown when it briefly possesses Anne, morphing then into a female form.]] Eddie refers to Venom with male pronouns however which Venom never objects to so while there might not be a biological sex, he seems to identify as male.

* SatanicArchetype: A heroic example that focuses on the SatanIsGood aspects: Venom emerged on Earth after falling from space, is a “fallen” creature from a race of godlike beings, and serves as a tempter to Eddie Brock while promising Eddie individuality and freedom as a symbiote bound monstrosity. It also warps Eddie into a [[HorrifyingHero demonic creature who punishes the guilty.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Considering his BadBoss tendencies and his uncaring attitude towards humanity, nobody mourned when he and Riot were blown up.]]

* NonActionBigBad: As Drake, he has no fighting skills, sending his men to do his job instead. As Riot, however, he's a match even for Venom. [[spoiler: As Drake, he gets in a brief scuffle with Eddie in the climax, but is quickly defeated.]]

* OneWingedAngel: He bonds with the Riot symbiote as part of their shared goal to bring more symbiotes to Earth. [[spoiler: He consumes Venom at one point in their fight in the climax, getting even bigger and more powerful.]]

* AxCrazy: Best shown in the scene where [[spoiler: he kills a bunch of Drake's staff because one tried to sabotage his rocket.]]

* OhCrap: While not immediately apparent due to symbiotes being {{Perpetual Smiler}}s, he clearly has one when [[spoiler:seeing Venom rupture the rocket's fuel tanks - at that point Riot clearly seems to realize that he's a dead man and symbiote.]]

* SuperheroMovieVillainsDie: [[spoiler: Played entirely straight. His rocket which he wanted to board to leave Earth and start a symbiote invasion ended up being destroyed by Venom, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard using his discarded blade no less]], and immediately doing away with Riot and Drake.]]

--> '''Riot:''' ''(after receiving a few attacks)'' You have a strong host! [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter But not strong enough...]]

!! ComicBook/{{Venom}}

!! Edward "Eddie" Charles Allan Brock

!! The Venom Symbiote

* AdaptationalWimp: Zigzagged. Venom considers himself a loser on his home planet and unlike his comic book counterpart, he is not the "father" of Riot but actually ranks much lower than he does in terms of abilities. It's mostly a case of Riot getting ''significantly'' AdaptationalBadass treatment.

** He's one for Eddie and Anne, [[spoiler:declaring its intention to help Eddie win Anne's heart again at the end of the film.]]

** Anne says that [[spoiler:the symbiote was invoking this trope when it chose (though seemingly, not entirely without her consent) to use an entirely unnecessary TheBigDamnKiss (any form of physical contact would've worked) to transfer itself from her back to Eddie.]]

--> '''Eddie''': Can this parasite make me climb trees really, really fast?\\
'''Venom''': '''Yes. We just did.'''

!! Life Foundation

!! Dr. Carlton Drake

!! Dr. Dora Skirth

!! Roland Treece

!! John Jameson

!! Symbiote Invasion

!! The Riot Symbiote

-->'''Drake''': Your friends... the others, I apologize, I tried to keep them alive.\\
'''Riot''': There are more of us. Millions more. They will follow wherever I lead.\\
'''Drake''': ...Wherever ''[[RoyalWe we]]'' lead.\\
'''Riot''': Yes, [[BigBadDuumvirate we]]. But first, we must retrieve him.

--> '''Riot''': ''(after receiving a few attacks)'' You have a strong host! [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter But not strong enough...]]

--> '''Riot''': Venom... ''get in the [[spoiler:rocket!]]''\\
'''Venom''': No! We won't let you destroy this world!\\
'''Riot''': Then, ''die''!

!! Blue Symbiote

!! Yellow Symbiote

!! Supporting Characters

!! Anne Weying

!! Maria

!! Mrs. Chen

!! Jack

!! Dr. Daniel "Dan" Lewis

[[folder:The Prisoner - Spoilers]]
!! [[ComicBook/{{Carnage}} Cletus Kasady]]

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Owing to the movie [[PragmaticAdaptation omitting his toxically obsessive hatred of Spider-Man]], which is not needed here since Spidey is AdaptedOut, Eddie reacts radically differently to his fall from grace compared to the comics. In the source material, Eddie by his own admission wasn't all that kind even before his life went to crap (even keeping a serial killer's identity hidden for a while to write sensationalist articles as opposed to this movie's IntrepidReporter) and afterwards became first suicidal, then borderline psychotic as he gleefully embraced the Venom Symbiote. This version instead looks at the whole ordeal with a sardonic, self-depreciating sense of humor, coming off more as {{Adorkable}} and even a NiceGuy at times, and spends a solid chunk of the movie being weirded out by the Venom Symbiote. The movie also doesn't make any overt references to his Catholic beliefs, which was a major aspect of his comic character.

* {{Adorkable}}: Eddie's self-esteem went down with his reputation, yet he manages to come across as nothing short of kind towards pretty much anyone not affiliated with the Life Foundation.

--> '''Riot''': Venom...''get in the [[spoiler:rocket!]]''\\

* EatenAlive: She gets eaten off-screen by the dark blue symbiote, which Drake sicked on her for helping Venom escape.

** He tells a group of kids that there will always be those who try to silence those who make too much questions, clearly portraying himself as part of the second group. Yet, he is the one to end his interview with Eddie and send him away when he starts making too many questions. Even in that first exchange, he uses the speech about silencing in order to avoid actually taking the question himself.

* AGodAmI: Downplayed, but when he talks to the homeless "volunteer" Isaac about the blue symbiote experiment, he relates the story of Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. Drake states that he considers Isaac to be the hero of that story, being willing to through with being sacrificed. He then goes off on a tangent about how he would argue God has abandoned humanity "but I won't abandon us", casting himself as ''God'' in his personal modern remake of the Biblical story.

* NoBiologicalSex: Being a symbiote, it has no defined gender or sex, choosing to assume the form of its host. It never refers to itself by any pronouns but "we". [[spoiler: This is better shown when it briefly possesses Anne, morphing then into a female form.]] Eddie refers to Venom with male pronouns however which Venom never objects to so while there might not be a biological sex, he seems to identify as male

* EnemyWithin: The Venom symbiote serves as one for Eddie in the film's second act, influencing him into lashing out at several restaurant patrons who try to keep him from stealing their food, and growling at Dr. Lewis. It uses its tendrils to slam Eddie around and pin to a wall when Eddie insults it by calling it a parasite, threatens him unless he helps it accomplish its mission, and is revealed to have been consuming from the inside-out.

* AbledInTheAdaptation: He does not have cancer like his comic counterpart, though he wonders if the symbiote is a brain tumor-induced hallucination, though [[spoiler:it should be noted to be "at the time" as ''ComicBook/DonnyCatesVenom'' later retconned that Eddie never had cancer when he first bonded to the symbiote, the cancer he did get was the symbiote screwing with his body chemistry, and his belief that he did at first was the symbiote gaslighting Eddie into staying with it.]]

* AdaptationalCurves: Inverted: in the comics, Eddie is very buff and has a broad build (where Venom was originally depicted getting his large, monstrous appearance from), but here Eddie has a more average build (if on the large side of average).

* AdaptationalBadass: Zig-zagged. While Eddie seems to be a fit, exercising man who can hold his own in a physical fight he does not seem to be the herculean BadassNormal he was in the comics, where he was canonically almost as strong as Captain America and actually a little stronger than guys like Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin. He does seem to be a more competent and famous reporter though; even having his own primetime show.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Prior to obtaining the symbiote, Eddie lightly chides his girlfriend for working for an evil person and tries to bring up the allegations about Carlton Drake performing life-threatening experiments on vulnerable people during an interview. After obtaining the symbiote, he explicitly forbids the symbiote from hurting innocents. While Eddie in the comics does share his movie counterpart's desire to protect innocent people, he indulged in a few unethical practices, was by his own admission not a particularly nice person, and -- DependingOnTheWriter -- Venom's villainy was all Eddie's fault as his rage corrupted the symbiote. Here, Eddie manages to be a positive influence on Venom.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Owing to the movie [[PragmaticAdaptation omitting his toxically obsessive hatred of Spider-Man]], which is not needed here since Spidey is AdaptedOut, Eddie reacts radically differently to his fall from grace compared to the comics. In the source material, Eddie by his own admission wasn't all that kind even before his life went to crap (even keeping a serial killer's identity hidden for a while to write sensationalist articles as opposed to this movie's IntrepidReporter) and afterwards became first suicidal, then borderline psychotic as he gleefully embraced the Symbiote. In this version, he instead looks at the whole ordeal with a sardonic, self-depreciating sense of humor, coming off more as {{Adorkable}} and even a NiceGuy at times, and spends a solid chunk of the movie being weirded out by the Symbiote. The movie also doesn't make any overt references to his Catholic beliefs, which in the comics were a major aspect of his character.
** His eagerness to build a repute as a reporter and help those who can't help themselves, however, remain, and by the end of the movie his relationship with the Symbiote more closely reflects that of the comics.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Tom Hardy's [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent attempt at an American accent]] means Eddie has a tendency to slur, mumble, and drag out his words. He comes off sounding a little slow. He does spend most of the film's early half drunk and later struggling to adapt to the symbiote's effect on his biology, though.
* AntiHero: If he is to remain bonded to the Symbiote, it will only hurt bad people. The term is even used in the second trailer.
* ApologeticAttacker: He constantly apologizes to Treece and his thugs while Venom beats them up.

* BadassInDistress: Due to the [[spoiler: Venom symbiote being much weaker than Riot, it and Eddie get absorbed by Riot easily]].
* BettyAndVeronica: Since Venom is a ShipperOnDeck for Eddie and Anne, she becomes the Archie and him the Veronica: a now anti-hero fused with a violent symbiote, against the mentally sound and honorable surgeon Dan (Betty). Though Eddie is happy for her and seemingly doesn't want to win her back.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: When Eddies sees that his favourite shopkeeper is being forced into a "protection" racket, he lets Venom loose on the thug.

* BrutalHonesty: The first trailer establishes him as someone who doesn't hold his opinions back, which according to Anne got him fired from his job at New York's ''Daily Globe''. In an interesting way, it's used to establish him as a good person, as he bluntly challenges the BigBad, Carlton Drake, making it clear that he knows Drake is performing life threatening experiments. More humorously, he outright says to Dora Skirth -- the Life Foundation employee who's following him -- that she sucks at being discreet.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:As a result of his actions at the beginning of the movie, Eddie and Anne broke up but they parted ways at peaceful terms. While Eddie still has feelings for her, he seems to be happy for Anne's new relationship]].
* DistressedDude: Is constantly being saved by Venom or Anne [[spoiler: or both at the same time]], but it is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as it cleanly establishes just how majorly out of his depth Eddie is. By the final act, Eddie grows out of it as he and Venom become more in tune with each other and learn how to work together.

* {{Foil}}: To Carlton Drake. Drake is a billionaire who is fully invested in the big picture of humanity's future, Eddie is upper-middle class and then moves to lower class after he and Anne break up, is very much in the moment and uses his fame in reporting to bring the plights of everyday people (ie. the homeless, or political protestors) to light. Eddie's reputation and relations all go down the toilet when he tries to expose Drake's inhumane practices where Drake's fame only grows as he continues (as seen when a group of school children were touring his lab). Even their relationships with their symbiotes are opposite. While Venom is at first using Eddie as a ride and keeps him around because they match perfectly, he still takes care of him and grows to genuinely care for his host to the point that he [[spoiler: preforms a HeroicSacrifice to save Eddie from an explosion]]. On the other hand, Riot is implied to be using Drake in order to get access to his [[spoiler: rocket ship]].

* GirlyScream: Eddie's voice jumps several octaves, alongside his testicles, when the Symbiote [[JumpScare startles]] him for the first time as he's staring at his own reflection.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Although he does have a few friends such as Mrs. Chen and Maria, Eddie's being hunted down by the police and the mercenaries sent by Carlton Drake because he has become the host for Venom.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler: Riot stabs Eddie with one of his blades, leaving him to die. However, Venom re-bonds with him, saving his life.]]
* IntrepidReporter: Eddie Brock is an investigative journalist whose desire to "do [his] job" saw him disgraced and run out of New York. In an interview with Dr. Carlton Drake, he goes off-script to interrogate him about allegations that the Life Foundation is conducting illicit human experiments -- putting him at odds with his fiancee Anne Weying, whose law firm represents Drake and the Life Foundation; and resulting in him being blacklisted from journalistic work. Eddie being contacted by a disgruntled employee, digging into the Life Foundation's dark secrets, and accidentally acquiring one of their symbiotes puts him in their sights as a threat.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler: Despite his issues, he is never jealous of Anne's new boyfriend Dan. At the end, Eddie is on better terms with her, though they're not together.]]

* KnightTemplar: Eddie demands that if the symbiote is going to hurt anyone, it should at least only hurt bad people.

** The "Eddie Brock Report" montage near the beginning of the film establishes that he focuses on stories that involve the plight against the homeless in San Francisco. He's on good terms with a homeless woman, Maria, and gives her $20 despite struggling to find work, then tries to rescue her when he finds out she's being experimented on.

** His kindness is strong enough that it manages to convince the Venom symbiote, [[spoiler: who came to Earth for the express purpose of invading and killing all humans,]] to turn against [[spoiler: Riot and its entire race]] and live semi-peacefully on Earth, only harming bad people who deserve it.
* NoodleIncident: Eddie lost his job at the prestigious Daily Globe newsroom and was effectively run out of New York due to an unspecified incident -- a reference to the comics' Sin-Eater case.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: You can hear Tom Hardy's English accent break through his narration at times, specifically on "own" and "issues." It slips even further in the full trailer, with lines "the guy you work for is an evil person" just coming out as a weird mishmash... [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent thing]].
* PermaStubble: Contrasting the Eddie Brock from the comics who was almost always clean-shaven.

* ThrowingOutTheScript: The incident that cost Eddie his job as a reporter was that he was supposed to interview Dr. Carlton Drake about their new space probe... but instead threw the script out the window and started grilling him about allegations that the Life Foundations was conducting unethical experiments. Going by Anne Weying's mention of the "''Daily Globe'' incident", Eddie has a history of doing such things and getting into trouble for them.

* AchillesHeel: Like in the comics, the symbiote is specifically vulnerable to fire and sound (specifically, frequencies in the 4-6 kilohertz range).
* AdaptationalIntelligence: Compared to its last appearance on the silver screen at least. The Film/SpiderManTrilogy incarnation of the symbiote portrays it as a mindless instinct-driven creature, [[TruerToTheText but this one is quite clearly an intelligent being like in the comics.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy: TruerToTheText aspects aside, this version of the symbiote is far more malicious and controlling than it originally was in the comics. In Venom's original appearance, it was heavily implied ([[FlipFlopOfGod and occasionally confirmed]] DependingOnTheWriter) that the symbiote was turned into an insane monster in part due to Eddie's intense hatred for Spider-Man, something that would bite Eddie in the ass when it tries to turn him into a KnightTemplar when he's genuinely trying to protect innocent people. Current comics also portray the symbiote as having a pet-like loyalty towards Eddie, while the film begins with Venom merely using Eddie as a way to escape the Life Foundation and proceed with Riot's plan. The trailers even making it out like Venom is the corrupting influence on Eddie, [[EnemyWithin rather than the other way around]]. However, in the film proper, it's eventually [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] as Venom undergoes CharacterDevelopment and comes to truly care for Eddie and its more noble nature is uncovered.

* AdaptationNameChange: In the comics, the symbiote actually doesn't have a name and is only referred to as the Venom symbiote due to its bond with Eddie, with "Venom" being the name of their shared form. Here, it's actually ''named'' Venom.
* AdaptedOut: The giant white spider-symbol that serves as a twisted counterpart to ComicBook/SpiderMan's is nowhere to be seen here, which makes sense considering that this version of the character has no vendetta with -- or relation to -- Peter Parker. Venom also lacks Spidey's web powers, using his arms and tendril instead to get from place to place.

* BadassBaritone: The symbiote's deep voice is a stark contrast with the weaselly voice of the [[Film/SpiderMan3 previous version]].

* BigGood: Of the film, though it is definitely [[GoodIsNotNice not the nicest example of this trope.]]
* BioArmor: When fully manifested, it covers Eddie's body in its biomass and manifests a fanged maw, huge white eyes, and a long prehensile tongue.

* BloodKnight: The symbiote greatly enjoys combat and bloodshed, and has a sadistic sense of humor to boot.

* CodeName: The Life Foundation codenames it SYM-A01.
* CombatPragmatist: When it is unable to overpower or defeat Riot in a straight-up fight, it opts for using one of Riot's own blades to destroy the ship Riot is on, incinerating him in the process.
* CombatTentacles: The symbiote sprouts tentacles from Eddie's body to attack the [=PMCs=] that the Life Foundation sends to capture Eddie, and also uses them to return him to his motorcycle when he falls off during a jump.

* DeadpanSnarker: The symbiote is equally as chatty and sarcastic as Spider-Man and Deadpool.
* DarkIsNotEvil: While the symbiote is still a monstrous AxCrazy entity, it ultimately has its host’s best interests at heart. Indeed, compare its treatment of Eddie to how Riot uses its hosts. While Venom is coarse and violent, the symbiote protects Eddie from the beginning and allows him autonomy even though he could take over Eddie's body at any point. Riot, on the other hand, jumps from host to host, taking full control and using them until they're drained and die before he moves on to the next. This is a nod to the comics, where the Venom symbiote was an outcast among its kind because it wanted to form a bond with its hosts that benefited both parties when their species is usually purely parasitic.
* DisneyDeath: At the end of the movie, the symbiote [[spoiler:seemingly sacrifices itself to save Eddie from the fires of Carlton/Riot's exploding rocket, but ends up surviving with no repercussions.]]
* EatingTheEnemy: The symbiote's go-to solution for dealing with enemies is eating them, quipping that it's "fuel in the tank".

* EnemyWithin: The symbiote serves as one for Eddie in the film's second act, influencing him into lashing out at several restaurant patrons who try to keep him from stealing their food, and growling at Dr. Lewis. It uses its tendrils to slam him around and pin him to a wall when he insults it by calling it a parasite, threatens him unless he helps it accomplish its mission, and is revealed to have been consuming him from the inside-out.
* GoodIsNotNice: While the symbiote may serve as the closest thing to an AntiHero, expect it to be vulgar, rude, and violent towards those [[TooDumbToLive stupid enough to get on its bad side]]. It also has a voracious appetite for flesh.
* GrewASpine: It's implied that if it weren't for Eddie's memories, Venom would never dream of [[spoiler:defying Riot, his much more powerful superior officer.]]
* GutturalGrowler: The symbiote has a deep, gravelly voice that is further distorted by a low growl.

* HealingFactor: Not solely for itself: it can also heal Eddie's injuries. At one point, Venom repairs Eddie's broken legs, much to his surprise. [[spoiler:When Eddie is impaled by Riot and left to die, Venom bonds with him again, saving his life.]]

* HomoeroticSubtext: While it's unclear if Symbiotes even have genders, the Symbiote's interests in Eddie come across as sort of intimate. [[spoiler:It's especially worth noting that the kiss that put the Symbiote back in Eddie's body was Venom's idea, and not Anne's.]]

* HumanityIsInfectious: Downplayed. While the symbiote doesn't come to overly like humanity, it does grow to appreciate them and Earth [[spoiler:enough to not let Riot destroy it. Also, it comes to genuinely like Eddie and Anne.]]
* HunterOfHisOwnKind: It chooses to fight Riot to protect Earth from other hostile symbiotes. The villain even calls Venom a "traitor" for not aiding it with its mission.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: The symbiote tentacles form into a shield to protect an untransformed Eddie from bullets, and then forms one during its fight with riot to protect it from the [[EpicFlail giant flail]] Riot had generated.

* MovieSuperheroesWearBlack: The symbiote is jet-black and covered in white vein-like markings in the movie, eschewing its comic counterpart's occasional [[PurpleIsTheNewBlack blue highlights]] and large white spider symbols.

* NominalHero: It helps Eddie fight the antagonists, but it's mostly protecting its host to ensure its own survival, as he's a good match for it and if he dies with the symbiote inside him, it dies too. It does eventually realize that Earth does not deserve to [[spoiler:be invaded and destroyed by Riot and the rest of its kind]] but even then, it's more swayed by Eddie's kindness and morals then by an innate sense of right and wrong. That said, Eddie does make progress in teaching it the difference between good people and bad people by the end of the movie.

* OffWithHisHead: The Symbiote's preferred method of eating people, if it doesn't just stop at the neck that is.
* OverlyLongTongue: Its tongue is long and prehensile, looking more like a pink tentacle.

** Both [[PlayedStraight played straight]] and [[AvertedTrope averted]]. The symbiote kills its initial host, Maria, before jumping to Eddie. While Eddie finds out that Venom has started to eat his organs, it claims that it can fix the damage. At the end of the movie, the two are bonded without issue but it mentions to Eddie that it's hungry and they need to eat or Eddie's liver will start to look tasty -- though it's unclear whether it was joking or not. The implication is that a symbiote will only feed on the host it matches if there is no other food source available. It may also be that the symbiote needs to eat raw living food as Venom seemed to prefer living creatures and that a symbiote that seemed to bond perfectly with another host was still eating him from the inside despite the host being fed intravenously, although given that the guy wasn't talking and didn't seem to be communicating with his symbiote implied that is was a close but not perfect match.
* RantInducingSlight: In the tie-in comic, the symbiote furiously berates Eddie for calling it a parasite and for wondering if it's a brain tumor-induced hallucination; snarling that on its homeworld he'd be eaten alive for such remarks. In the film itself, it takes a great deal of offence whenever anyone calls it a parasite.

* ShapeshifterBaggage: The symbiote on its own has about a gallon's worth of total volume, so it disappearing inside a human body is already unreasonable. However, the fully manifested Venom is a towering brute about twice the size of its host, heavy enough to crush cars, capable of devouring another grown man whole in a matter of seconds before retreating back into its host without a trace. It's never brought up where all that biomass comes from or goes during the transformations.

** Becomes one for Eddie and Anne, [[spoiler:declaring its intention to help Eddie win her heart again at the end of the film.]]

* ToServeMan: The symbiote frequently threatens to eat criminals and anyone else who annoys it, and actually does so.

* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler: Despite saying that it is weak to fire and being caught in the explosion of Carlton Drake's rocket, Venom survives it all and is still bonded with Eddie. The assumption is that in was only injured by the explosion, and rested and recovered within Eddie]].

The CEO of the Life Foundation, who believes that the symbiotes are the key to human evolution.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Ahmed is younger and easier on the eyes compared to the comics' Drake who was generally a [[DependingOnTheArtist middle-aged to old]] man.
* AdaptedOut: He lacks the Man-Spider transformation of his comic counterpart, but this does not make him a complete AdaptationalWimp with the presence of Riot.

* BadBoss: His dislike for mankind is also shown by how he treats his employees. He fires one of his security guards for failing to realize one of Drake's own doctors snuck Eddie into the lab, [[spoiler:executes Doctor Skirth for betraying him by feeding her to a symbiote]] and later transforms into Riot to kill a scientist for attempting to sabotage him before killing the others for no reason.

* CompositeCharacter: He’s the human host of Riot, a role occupied by the likes of Trevor Cole and Howard Ogden.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When a class is touring the labs, Carlton Drake commends one girl for wanting to ask him something despite getting shushed by her classmates, but doesn't actually let her get a word in. Right away the audience can see that he's a disingenuous person whose philanthropic nature is just for the sake of good publicity.

* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: A handsome, intelligent and charming young man, who plans to help aliens conquer Earth.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Drake is soft-spoken, charismatic, and genuinely believes his work is a necessary evil in order to save humanity from certain extinction. Said work, however, involves abducting homeless people and subjecting them to unethical and more-often-than-not fatal experiments. This is best illustrated when he convinces a test subject that being locked up with a symbiote is the noble choice for him.
* {{Foil}}: To Eddie. Carlton Drake is well-respected and always presents himself immaculately with an air of class, which barely hides the fact that he's a glory-seeking sociopath. Eddie meanwhile looks like a thug, is socially awkward and has a sullied reputation, but is ultimately a good person.

* AGodAmI: Downplayed, but when he talks to the homeless "volunteer" Isaac about the symbiote experiment, he relates the story of Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Drake states that he considers Isaac to be the hero of that story, being willing to through with being sacrificed. He then goes off on a tangent about how he would argue God has abandoned humanity, "but I won't abandon us," casting himself as ''God'' in his personal modern remake of the Biblical story.
* HateSink: Every action he takes oozes with despicableness; from ruining Eddie's life for daring to ask sensitive questions to sacrificing countless homeless people for his unethical experiments to blackmailing (and eventually killing) any employee who has a conscience. The only thing that audience would like about him is that he becomes Riot, but that is mostly due to the symbiote rather than the actual man.

** Says he wants to deal with issues like overpopulation and overconsumption, but works with Riot, who devours his hosts over time and wants to let his entire species hunt Earth's population to extinction.

* MisanthropeSupreme: When Riot infests him he is more or less instantly on board with Plan Let Alien Goo Monsters Eat Most Of Humanity.

* NeverMyFault: Blames the scientists for not watching over Dr. Skirth properly and causing the death of the blue symbiote, when the situation wouldn't have occurred at all if he had just chose a mundane method of [[YouHaveFailedMe killing her]] instead of choosing agonizing death via symbiote.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: His character draws obvious inspiration from Elon Musk. He's a relatively young billionaire whose business is focused on technology and science. Both like to talk a lot about using technology to solve global environmental issues. Like Elon Musk's [=SpaceX=], Drake owns a company that works in the field of space exploration and seeks to bring that to the masses with long term goal of space colonization. Both also seek to symbiotically merge humanity with non-human intelligence. The goal of Musk's Neuralink is to do this with ArtificialIntelligence using {{Brain Computer Interface}}s in order to help create BenevolentAI. Lastly the Life Foundation is based in the Bay area, much like Musk's Tesla and is similarly named to the Future of Life Institute which has a scientific advisory board on which Musk sits. Fortunately, Drake's ethics and views on humanity are not inspired by Musk.
* NonActionBigBad: As Drake, he has no fighting skills, sending his men to do his job, instead. As Riot, however, he becomes a match even for Venom itself. [[spoiler: As Drake, he gets in a brief scuffle with Eddie in the climax, but is quickly defeated.]]
* NotSoDifferent: It's not given much focus, but he shares quite a few similarities with the Riot symbiote. Mainly in their habit of using people [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness until they don't need them anymore]]. Just compare how fast Drake let the blue symbiote loose on Dora Skirth once she spilled that she snuck Eddie into the lab to Riot's immediate decision to kill Venom upon learning that Venom has performed a HeelFaceTurn and now opposes Riot's plan to lead a symbiote invasion of Earth.

* OneWingedAngel: He bonds with the Riot symbiote as part of their shared goal to bring more symbiotes to Earth. [[spoiler: He consumes Venom at one point in their fight in the climax, becoming even bigger and more powerful.]]

* RaceLift: Dr. Carlton Drake was an Anglo-American in the comics, but here is played by Riz Ahmed, a British-Pakistani.
* ShameIfSomethingHappened: As he threatens Dr. Skirth to keep participating in his unethical experiments, he ominously brings up her children in the conversation.

* TranshumanTreachery: While the Riot symbiote forcibly bonds to Drake, he willingly goes along with it in order to bring more symbiotes to Earth. In an unusual twist, Drake believes himself to be a ProHumanTranshuman, but he doesn't seem to realize the symbiotes intend to enslave and wipe out humanity.

* TheAce: Stated to be this by the Venom symbiote, who describes it as a "team leader" that has "shit you've never seen". Given that it can jump hosts without burning them out; is bigger and stronger than the other symbiotes, can create more complex weapons from its biomass, can forcibly remove a symbiote from its host, and even contain another symbiote within itself definitely shows that Riot is on a whole other level.

* AdaptationalBadass: In the comics, Riot serves as TheBrute of a QuirkyMinibossSquad and never really battles Venom individually. In the movie, he's more analogous to Carnage in terms of abilities, with Venom being something of "a runt" in comparison. He is stated to be a team leader among his people, is shown to also be completely capable of working entirely on his own (going as far as to [[WeHaveReserves dismiss the deaths of his kind]]), is bonded to Carlton Drake, the ''leader'' of the Life Foundation, and even Venom admits that his chances of beating Riot in combat [[CurbStompBattle is a dead zero]].
* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Rather than being the spawn of the Venom symbiote, Riot is an unrelated individual of the same species.
* AdultFear: At one point Riot made its host follow a little girl into a public bathroom. The next time Riot appears, it has taken the girl as its new host.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Riot is more physically powerful than Venom and has superior fighting abilities like creating weapons out of his body. Though Venom is quite powerful in his own right and manages to keep up with Riot, he is manhandled for most of the fight against him. [[spoiler:In the end, he isn't even beaten by force but gets incinerated when Venom explodes his ship's fuel tanks with Riot/Drake inside it]].
* TheAssimilator: In the final battle, [[spoiler:Riot assimilates the Venom symbiote -- host and all -- to become truly enormous, only for Anne Weying to intercede with a sonic attack that separates them.]]
* AxCrazy: Best shown in the scene where [[spoiler: he kills a bunch of Drake's staff because one of them tried to sabotage his rocket.]]

* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Riot can transform its arms into enormous bladed weapons.
* BodySurf: Riot is a "body hopper" who jumps from host to host -- jumping from John Jameson to a Malaysian paramedic to an old woman to a little girl and finally to Carlton Drake.

* CompositeCharacter: Riot usually stuck to shapeshifting to smashing weapons like hammers or maces in the comics. Here he seems to prefer blades and claws as well as growing spikes on his back, traits lifted from Phage and Carnage. He does use a mace in his fight against Venom though.

* MovieSuperheroesWearBlack: Inverted. Riot's a bit brighter than its comic counterpart, given that it's black sections are gone and red veins are visible beneath its silver surface.

* PossessionBurnout: The Malaysian paramedic collapses after the symbiote leaves her, though it's not shown what happened to the old woman or the little girl it bonded to.

* SpikesOfVillainy: During its battle with Venom, it sprouts several spikes and tendrils from its back.

* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the comics, the Riot symbiote was one of many that spawned from Venom. The relationship is barely explored but they seemingly have no "relation" in this film.
* VillainRespect: He does seem a bit impressed by how compatible Eddie is with Venom.

* WeHaveReserves: When Drake apologizes for letting the other members of Riot's infiltration team die, Riot remarks there are millions more of its kind.

* BodyHorror: After bonding to Isaac, it causes him to spasm and twitch horrifically as it consumes him from the inside-out.
* CodeName: The Life Foundation codenames it SYM-A02.
* PossessionBurnout: Inflicted this on its hosts. After it does this to Dr. Skirth, the other Life Foundation scientists kill it by not returning it to its containment unit.

One of the four symbiotes collected by the Life Foundation. It successfully bonds to a rabbit, but is later shown to have perished when Eddie infiltrates the lab.

* CodeName: The Life Foundation codenames it SYM-A03.

* MythologyGag: Its yellow and black appearance is one to the Scream symbiote from the comics, though it's never established if that's who it's meant to be.
* PossessionBurnout: Inflicted this on its hosts, which ultimately led to its death when the Life Foundation failed to return it to its containment unit quickly enough.

A lawyer employed by the Life Foundation. She starts as Eddie's fiancee, but breaks up with him after he gets her fired.

* ActionGirl: In the final act of the film, [[spoiler:Anne bonds to the symbiote and becomes She-Venom to reunite it with Eddie Brock and save his life from Drake's thugs, even eating TheDragon in the process, and is angered when the symbiote refuses to let her help against Eddie's wishes in the fight against Riot. Following that, she finds a way to blast out high-pitched sound from the speakers surrounding Carlton[=/=]Riot's rocket, stopping him from getting inside.]]

* AmicableExes: ZigZagged. While she still resents Eddie over what he did six months ago, his erratic behavior after bonding to the Venom symbiote makes her worried about him, even getting her new boyfriend to help him.

** [[spoiler:When she briefly bonds with the Venom symbiote, she saves Eddie moments before he is executed by Drake's goons]].
** During the battle between Riot and Venom, [[spoiler:the former absorbs both Venom and Eddie and is about to escape on the rocket until Anne turns on the speaker to stun separate him from Venom.]]
* BigDamnKiss: She lays a big wet one on Eddie [[spoiler:as She-Venom to transfer the Venom Symbiote back to him]].
* TheCavalry: [[spoiler:Using the Venom symbiote, she rescues Eddie, who is about to be executed by Treece and his men.]]
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: [[spoiler:When Venom briefly takes over her body, she does not go by She-Venom]].
* TheConfidant: After she witnesses Venom fighting a bunch of cops, Eddie ends up confiding in her about the symbiote, [[EvilMeScaresMe his concerns regarding its influence over him]], and that [[EvilFeelsGood he's starting to enjoy its power]].
* CuteMonsterGirl: [[spoiler: When she briefly bonds with Venom, the end result has a very shapely figure in sharp contrast to the bulky build Venom has when it envelops Eddie.]]
* EvilFeelsGood: Despite being disgusted by the symbiote's bloodlust, [[spoiler:Anne tells Eddie that part of her reveled in the power that it gave her.]]

* HeroicHost: She briefly bonds to the Venom symbiote in order to rescue him, eating Roland Treece's head in the process.
* InformedAttribute: Anne works as a lawyer on behalf of the Life Foundation, but is never seen practicing law at any point in the film, even after the TimeSkip.
* IAteWhat: [[spoiler:She eats Treece's head while rescuing Eddie as She-Venom. She's not thrilled about it.]]
* KissingUnderTheInfluence: [[spoiler: When infected with the symbiote, she kisses Eddie, making him Venom again. When he brings up the kiss at the end of the movie, she claims to have been the symbiote's idea, but there is noticeable insecurity in her words. Not helping is the fact that she doesn't want to tell her current boyfriend about that.]]
* MsFanservice: [[spoiler:As She-Venom, since she appears in a very curvaceous form just like her comic book counterpart, monstrous head notwithstanding]].
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Later on at the end of the movie when questioned on why she kissed Eddie as [[spoiler:She-Venom]], she becomes very flustered and defensive stating that it was all the [[spoiler: symbiote]] not her. Given that [[spoiler:Venom doesn't take full control of his hosts even when he's fully manifested and at the very least doesn't influence or control their minds, this was most likely a case of MoreThanMindControl as Venom (who stated that he likes her and by the end is an active ShipperOnDeck for Eddie and Anne)]] may have influenced her and taken down her inhibitions somewhat while also making her more aggressive, it's heavily implied that the decision to kiss was all Anne and she still very much cares about Eddie.
* WhatTheHellHero: Eddie breaking into her laptop and using a confidential e-mail to accuse Carlton Drake of murder gets her fired, whereupon she furiously berates Eddie for the flaws she's previously put up with because she loved him.

* ActionGirl: In the final act of the film, [[spoiler:Anne bonds to the symbiote and becomes She-Venom to reunite it with Eddie Brock and save his life from Drake's thugs, even eating TheDragon in the process, and is angered when Eddie and the symbiote refuse to let her help in the fight against Riot. Following that, she finds a way to blast out high-pitched sound from the speakers surrounding Carlton[=/=]Riot's rocket, stopping him from getting inside.]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: His character draws obvious inspiration from Elon Musk. He's a relatively young Billionaire whose business is focused on technology and science. Both like to talk alot about using technology to solve global environment issues. Like Elon Musk, Drake owns a [=SpaceX=] company that works in the field of space exploration and seeks to bring that to the masses with long term goal of space colonization. Lastly the Life Foundation is based in the Bay area, much like Musk's Tesla.

* AmicableExes: Zigzagged. While she still resents Eddie over what he did six months ago, his erratic behavior after bonding to the Venom symbiote makes her worried about him, even getting her new boyfriend to help him.

!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Ron Cephas Jones

* GoodIsDumb: Even if he does seem to be a NiceGuy all in all, it never occurs to him that maybe his reporters might discover very important information needed to protect the public by investigating a company more thoroughly. He admonishes Eddie for going too deep in interrogating Drake for allegations against Life Foundation that most of its test subjects have perished in the experiments and that their deaths are being covered up. Rather than simply give Eddie a warning, he outright fires him.

Life Foundation's head of security.

* GoodIsDumb: Even if he does seem to be a NiceGuy all in all, it never occurs to him that maybe his reporters might discover very important information needed to protect the public by investigating a company more thoroughly. He fires Eddie for going too deep in interrogating Drake for allegations against Life Foundation that most of its test subjects have perished in the experiments and that their deaths are being covered up. Jack justifies his firing of Eddie by claiming Eddie lacked evidence to legitimize those allegations.

* NiceGuy: When Eddie makes a scene in a restaurant as a result of his symbiote-induced hunger, Dan insists that Eddie is his patient and tells the waitress not to call the cops. Overall, he is rather nice to Eddie and doesn't treat him as a love rival.

* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: The rich to Eddie's poor when it comes to dating Anne. Having been fired, Anne appears to look to Dan who seems to be a medical doctor as her new breadwinner once she dumps Eddie, who also got fired. Venom offers to help Eddie get Anne back from Dan.

* GoodIsDumb: Even if he does seem to be a NiceGuy all in all, it never occurs to him that maybe his reporters might discover very important information needed to protect the public by investigating a company more thoroughly. He fires Eddie for going too deep in interrogating Drake for allegations against Life Foundation that most of its test subjects have perished in the experiments and that their deaths are being covered up. Jack justifies his firing of Eddie by claiming he believes Drake's claim that those allegations are just fake rumors.

* GoodIsDumb: Even if he does seem to be a NiceGuy all in all, it never occurs to him that maybe his reporters might discover very important information needed to protect the public by investigating a company more thoroughly. He fires Eddie for going too deep in interrogating Drake for allegations against Life Foundation that most of its test subjects have perished in the experiments and that their deaths are being covered up.