#it has nothing to do with a modern media franchise about catching monsters

[charlesoberonn]

This is the book cover equivalent to clickbait

[aion-rsa]

How Tom Hardy’s Venom Finally Made the Character a Superhero

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For decades, Marvel has been confused about what to do with Venom. While one of their more marketable characters, the company has never been sure what his deal is. Is he a villain, blinded by his own failures and driven mad? Is he a self-described hero, trying to use his status to justify his endless bloodlust? Is he the hulking agent of a corrupt Avengers, existing as a monstrous alien costume controlling a pathetic criminal too desperate for relevance? Is he a handicapped war hero trying to live up to Spider-Man’s example by using the violent symbiote as a weapon against evil? A mafioso? A space knight? A knock off of John Carpenter’s The Thing?

Even with the movies, the two incarnations of Venom are as different as the two Deadpools or the two Banes. While both Topher Grace and Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brocks are media screw-ups who bond with alien goo that unleash the id, they also represent very different versions of how Venom has existed in the comics. The version from Spider-Man 3 died and that was that, but the one from 2018’s Venom has not only gone on to turn himself into a franchise, but he’s been able to finally settle Marvel’s mind. The movies, including this weekend’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage, have redefined the character.

To understand, you have to go back to the beginning when Venom first started showing up in the late-1980s. Venom was two beings bonded over a shared hatred of Spider-Man. Spider-Man had been spending time wearing a black costume he figured was made of alien technology, only to discover it was a living being that wanted to become one with him. After he removed it, it joined with Eddie Brock, a reporter whose faulty article about a serial killer’s identity was proven wrong by Spider-Man catching the real killer. Rather than realize that he made a mistake, Eddie doubled down and blamed Spider-Man for the way his life crumbled. Together, the symbiote and Eddie became Venom and they wanted to make Spider-Man pay.

But there came a bit of a twist. While Venom was very much dedicated to gruesomely murdering Peter Parker, he was deluded enough to think that this was for the greater good. To him, Spider-Man really was a menace who ruined Eddie Brock’s life. Venom wasn’t spending his off-time robbing banks or trying to take over the world. He wasn’t teaming up with other villains. In his mind, he wasn’t a villain. He was just a good guy pulling off some good old fashioned vigilante justice.

Between Venom’s popularity, his alienation from the rest of the villains, and the fact that he was never going to actually kill Spider-Man, the writing was on the wall. Venom was going to have to actually start fighting crime, even if it was in the Punisher style. A couple What If…? comics from the era played with the idea. There was even a backup story that showed Venom saving a teenager from criminals while preparing for his first fight against Spider-Man.

In 1993, Venom went full-on antihero with the miniseries Venom: Lethal Protector. That started a five-year stretch of Venom comics where the hero went around murdering muggers and getting roped into the occasional superhero team-up, whether it was with Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, or Morbius. As is normal with changes in the comic book status quo, it eventually rubber-banded back to Venom being a full-on villain who wanted nothing more than to kill Spider-Man. It’s always so simple to just go back to the past and treat recent stories as a failed experiment.

Marvel wasn’t sure what to do with Venom for years, but they wanted Venom to be synonymous with villainy. Yet at the same time, they understood the novelty of a heroic Venom, so they tried to have their cake and eat it too. Mac Gargan (formerly the Scorpion) became the new Venom and was treated as genuinely monstrous. In the meantime, Patrick Mulligan was introduced as the new symbiote superhero Toxin. Once he fell into obscurity, Eddie Brock started fighting crime again as Anti-Venom. Then later on, Eddie became host to the Toxin symbiote.

Flash Thompson became Venom for a time, and it was Marvel once again trying to have it both ways. Although the symbiote was evil and overly violent, Flash was able to control it via drugs and willpower. Dealing with the symbiote was treated as a metaphor for recovering from alcoholism. Then when the symbiote took a liking to Flash and became good, it was forced to bond against its will to criminal Lee Price. This culminated in Eddie Brock becoming the symbiote’s host again for the first time in years, and he was again at least trying to do the right thing.

After all this time of playing Hot Potato with alien fashion, we hit the point where Venom was fighting crime again. It was roughly 20 years since his Lethal Protector days, but those days had become a base of nostalgia. Instead of reverting Venom back to how he was in his original handful of stories, writers were starting to remember the antihero stories as the “good old days.”

Now when Spider-Man 3 came out in 2007, it was a little after Eddie Brock got rid of the symbiote in the comics and during the early days of Mac Gargan’s turn. There was nothing modern to latch onto and there was little problem with just going with an early depiction of comics Venom, albeit with some differences. Mainly that Topher Grace’s Eddie was supposed to play like an evil mirror of Peter Parker to the point that he was a photographer instead of a reporter and wasn’t supposed to come off as especially bulky. Bloated as the movie was, this version of Venom didn’t have anything going for him other than being all about revenge, so we have no idea what his next step would have been had he won.

Conversely, the Tom Hardy version of Venom had to be fully formed without Spider-Man’s existence, complete with not only a new origin story but also a new motivation for Brock and the symbiote to stay bonded. That meant going to the Lethal Protector well once more. Both Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage are filled with references to that era of Venom. Carlton Drake, the Life Foundation, Riot, Shriek, Eddie having homeless friends, the symbiote hungering for the chemical that’s found in brains and chocolate, and so on. The details of Cletus Kasady’s childhood were taken directly from Venom: Carnage Unleashed.

Even the goofball sense of humor was something Venom had going for him back then, though it was more Eddie than the symbiote (it really didn’t get a “voice” until years later). This was a guy who murdered a room full of goons while singing David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” then admitting he forgot most of the lyrics. He once went undercover in a church by cross-dressing as a nun. The dude went on TV and crashed a news broadcast with the Incredible Hulk while doing a Hans and Franz impression!

But more than anything, it went with the idea of Venom being a problematic attempt at being a hero. Eddie is a mess of a man who ruined his own life and needs to be led on the right path. The Venom symbiote is a petulant child that wants to feast on human flesh and unleash havoc, but can be won over to do the right thing and be civilized. While Venom does good overall, it’s also an excuse to do what he wants. Murder and eating people is okay as long as they have it coming. The sequel makes it apparent that such an attitude leads to repercussions and it’s not a sustainable lifestyle for someone who wants to hold onto a normal life.

When Venom made all that money at the box office (over $850 million internationally), it sent a message: Marvel realized that the world wanted Venom as the good guy. He wasn’t there to chase Spider-Man, but to have his own adventure. Be the protagonist. Be the hero. Be over the top about it all.

While Venom’s comic adventures have certainly been weird in the last few years, they have been consistent in making it clear that Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote are on the side of good. Eddie had a great, cathartic moment where he admitted to the Avengers that he doesn’t know whether to call himself good or bad because once upon a time, he thought killing Spider-Man was the right thing to do. How can he trust his own judgment if he had that going on?

Then he went on to pull this shit.

He’s still not nice enough to let Spider-Man eat his fries, but they’re at least on good enough terms to get lunch together. That’s progress!

The success of Venom: Let There Be Carnage only solidifies Venom in the eyes of the public. Tom Hardy’s CGI space monster is someone we want to cheer for. Let him be redeemed. Let him protect.

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[businessliveme]

Netflix Hopes ‘Stranger Things’ Can Be Its Billion-Dollar Franchise

(Bloomberg) — Days before the July 4 holiday in the U.S., hundreds of fans of “Stranger Things” lined up along the beach in Santa Monica, California, to attend a fair modeled after the Netflix Inc. show.

Clad in shirts with the names of characters and the high school in fictional Indiana, they waited more than an hour to ride a Ferris wheel, eat ice cream and snap selfies in a photo booth.

Read: These Netflix Shows Should Be On Your Radar Pronto

The event, one of two in the U.S., is part of the biggest marketing campaign ever undertaken by Netflix, the world’s largest paid online TV network. Over the past few weeks, Netflix has attached “Stranger Things” to Schwinn bikes, Nike shoes and Coke soft drinks — all to hype the Independence Day arrival of the show’s third season.

Read: Netflix to Adapt Classic Novel ‘100 Years of Solitude’ as Series

On Monday, Netflix begins a long promotion with Microsoft Corp. The tech giant is bringing back Windows 1, the first version of the software that made it the most valuable company. The app includes Microsoft Paint and the word processor Write, as well as games and videos from “Stranger Things.” The show is set in 1985, the same year Windows 1 was released.

Like any campaign, this one is designed to draw in current fans and attract potential new ones. But it’s also an important test of whether Netflix can turn “Stranger Things,” already its most popular original show in the U.S., into something much bigger. The company, with worldwide subscribers approaching 160 million, is beginning to angle for a piece of the $122 billion consumers spend on entertainment-linked merchandise.

“The category is massive, and Netflix wants to play a part,” said Gene Del Vecchio, a consultant and adjunct marketing professor at the University of Southern California. “They are going to need a strategic plan if they really want to reap the benefits as they go forward.”

Pillars of Profit

The world’s largest entertainment companies are built on properties like “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Star Wars” and “Batman” that remain in the public eye via T-shirts, games and toys long after people stop watching the latest season. “Star Wars” has generated more than $20 billion in merchandise sales — a virtuous cycle in which T-shirts and action figures drive ticket sales for each new movie.

For all of Netflix’s success, it has struggled to dispel industry criticism that it churns through projects, never giving a show more than a few weeks in the spotlight. The Los Gatos, California-based company cancels the vast majority of new series after just a couple seasons because viewership falls off. Sustaining interest is the key if Netflix wants its shows to sell toys, clothing and video games.

“Stranger Things” debuted over the July 4 weekend in 2016 with little fanfare. A quirky piece of nostalgia for the 1980s, the show was created by two brothers without a hit to their name and a cast full of kids and journeyman actors. The creators were initially concerned because they saw few billboards or traditional marketing materials.

Magnet for Viewers

Viewers showed up right away. Within weeks, the cast was on magazine covers and talk shows. The show was nominated for Emmy awards, and was, by outside estimates, one of Netflix’s most-watched original series.

“Whenever we do survey work, it’s the No. 1 show in terms of customer favorites,” said Michael Nathanson, an analyst with MoffettNathanson LLC.

“Stranger Things” proved Netflix could make a hit on its own. Unlike “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black” or “The Crown,” the show was produced without the help of a major studio. It is also the kind of hit media companies dream about. It appeals to all ages, and lends itself to costumes and toys. But Netflix didn’t even have a licensing department when that first season appeared.

“Stranger Things” has since served as Netflix’s marketing guinea pig. The company bought its first Super Bowl ad to promote season two, and forged deals for “Stranger Things” T-shirts, dolls and a mobile game.

In September, Netflix hired Disney veteran Christie Fleischer to lead its consumer products group. She, in turn, has beefed up the group with additional hires from Disney.

While Netflix has a huge head start on traditional media companies in streaming, Disney is still the model for a modern entertainment company. Every new TV show or movie at Disney is the start of a franchise that makes money in a multitude of ways.

Frozen Treats

“Frozen” generated $531 million in toy sales in the U.S. in 2014, according to research firm NPD Group Inc. “Star Wars” is a video game, theme-park attraction and toy juggernaut.

“Netflix stumbled into ‘Stranger Things’ merchandise,” Del Vecchio said.

It’s an open question whether Netflix can develop shows that deliver those kinds of sales. Internet TV is still in its early days, and the company debuts whole series all at once, making it harder to sustain the attention of viewers the way a weekly program might.

“The shows get big buzz and then start to fade,” said Allen Bohbot, who produces the kids’ show “Super Monsters” for Netflix. “With TV, the show is on every day and repeats every week. There is a constant in-your-face reminder to a kid that a show will be there.”

He can speak first hand. Netflix bought the underlying characters from “Super Monsters” and licensed Hasbro Inc. to produce a line of toys. The toys didn’t catch on in a big way, and a more ambitious release schedule for the show didn’t seem to help.

None of those concerns have stopped some of the world’s largest companies from working with Netflix and “Stranger Things” to reach new customers.

“We’re always out looking for things we can do to drive and build cultural relevance,” said Eli Friedman, Microsoft’s general manager of brand marketing. “There’s lots of buzz around the show.”

Shares of the streaming company have risen 41% this year, compared with a 19% gain for the S&P 500 Index.

Tech Camp

The promotion with Microsoft will last all summer. The software giant will produce a video game rooted in “Stranger Things” and offer science camps at its U.S. stores all summer, named after the “Camp Know Where” in the series. Technophiles will be able to take science and engineering classes at more than 80 stores in the U.S., and learn how to make a minigame tied to the series.

Fleischer has been laying the groundwork for the “Stranger Things” promotion for months, and, for the first time will roll out products worldwide, including Latin America, Asia and Europe.

The company is developing campaigns for “Dark Crystal,” a series based on the Jim Henson characters, “Klaus,” an animated movie, and “La Casa de Papel,” a Spanish heist show, according to people familiar with the company’s plans who asked not to be identified. In 2020, a Finnish video game company will release a mobile game based on “Stranger Things.”

Bohbot, who produces “Super Monsters,” believes Netflix will ultimately figure out how to turn its online hits into merchandising bonanzas.

“Nickelodeon was nothing until SpongeBob came along and became a hit,” Bohbot said.

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