JP Nunez
In the world of horror-centric and horror-adjacent superheroes, few loom as large as Venom. Not only is he one of the most popular characters in the Marvel stable, but he’s also earned a combined $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office over just two movies. The character is as popular as ever, so a third Venom film is pretty much a no-brainer. We all knew it was coming, and Deadline is reporting that Venom 3 is now one step closer to becoming a reality.
Sony has tapped Kelly Marcel to direct Venom 3, and if I’m being honest, I’m both excited and nervous about that choice. On the one hand, Kelly Marcel was a writer and a producer on the first two Venom movies, so she clearly knows her way around this franchise. In fact, Deadline’s sources told them that Marcel has always seen eye-to-eye with star Tom Hardy on the direction the Venom stories should take, and as the two worked on the story for this third film, it just “made sense for Marcel to take over directing duties as well.”
That’s pretty encouraging, but there is one big red flag here that has me a bit nervous as well. This is going to be Kelly Marcel’s feature directorial debut, and first-time directors are always a total crapshoot. Sometimes they work out really well (think Jordan Peele with Get Out), but other times they crash and burn (like Simon Kinberg with X-Men: Dark Phoenix). We simply don’t know if Marcel has what it takes to be a good director, and we won’t know until we actually see Venom 3.
All that being said, I still think the pros here outweigh the cons. For one, Tom Hardy clearly trusts Kelly Marcel, and if she’s good enough for Tom Hardy, she’s good enough for me. Secondly, Venom 3 doesn’t need to be a shining example of the fine art of cinema. The first two movies get by almost entirely on Tom Hardy’s performance and their super fun action, so Marcel’s lack of experience in the directing chair isn’t as big of a concern here as it would be in most other films.
And last but not least, if nothing else, this news means that Venom 3 is one step closer to becoming a reality, and that alone is enough to get me excited. I’m a fan of both the character and this franchise, so I can’t wait to see the third film. I’m especially interested to see if it continues to lean into the horror like Venom: Let There Be Carnage did, but even if it doesn’t go quite as far as that movie, I’m sure it’s still going to be a fun horror-adjacent ride.
