Venom Movies in Order: The Complete Guide

Venom has been an iconic character in the Marvel comic series, and fans were massively excited about a potential appearance as the villain in the ever popular Spider-Man franchise. Now that the dust has settled, you may be asking yourself how best to watch Venom’s films.

Join me as we go through the best way to watch Venom’s appearances in order so that events make sense and the storylines gel, made slightly more difficult by the somewhat interesting decisions made by the major studios over the years.

Venom is a series best watched in release date order, although there are some caveats that are worth keeping in mind but we’ll go through all that and more, so let’s get into it!

How Many Venom Movies Are There?

Venom has appeared in four films, although often as a minor character in Spider-Man films. Being an alien, Venom is more a parasite that needs a host rather than a character, having infected many people over different franchises.

Venom is actually a Symbiote, an organism from another planet who feeds on the adrenaline of its host, while also granting spider-like powers.

Venom is quite an important character despite his limited screen time, leading to two independent movies with Tom Hardy portraying Eddie Brock, the eventual host of the Symbiote in those releases.

It is in these films that we get the closest look at Venom, as he otherwise tends to be getting minimal (if no actual screen time, in the case of Spider-Man: No Way Home) exposure.

Topher Grace’s Venom with performances by Tobey Maguire was introduced in Spider-Man 3 in 2007, and that’s where we’ll start our own viewing journey.

Venom Movies in Order

Given the changing timelines, time travel and other strange goings on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it can be hard to know where to start with a series or character that has appeared multiple times.

It seems that Topher Grace’s Venom is part of the MCU in an alternate universe. While there doesn’t seem to be a big Venom project on the horizon, it’s likely that if he wanted to come back we could expect more performances from this actor.

This is possible due to the Multiverse concept such as depicted in the Spider-Man: No Way Home film. Here is the list of Venom Movies in order according to release date, although this is also the best order to watch them in:

• Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Venom (2018)
• Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Watch Order for Venom Movies

Watching the films is fine either going by their release date or chronologically.

It is important to note that ‘New Venom’ as per Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and Venom’s appearances and cameos all go towards the MCU conception of the character.

But this doesn’t apply to the appearance of Venom in Spider-Man 3 as it is like a stand alone film, being part of a different Spider-Man Universe. This means it is a great first film to watch when going through all the Venom films.

Watch Order for Venom Movies By Release Date

1. Spider-Man 3 (2007)

The third installment of the Spider-Man franchise featuring Tobey Maguire, this was a successful release and was the first live-action movie for Venom.

Commentary has revealed that Venom’s cameo is a springboard for more Venom-centered projects, being a foundation for this iconic character to appear in more Marvel releases.

It wasn’t to be, with legal wrangling and intellectual property issues meaning Venom never made an appearance in Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man franchise, eventuating in a Venom hiatus until the 2010s.

Peter Parker’s Spider-Man suit is corrupted by the symbiote, which results in an even stronger Spider-Man, but as is common with those infected by the Symbiote, they also take on some of the dark side of the evil Symbiote.

With an evil Spider-Man causing a lot of problems for those around him and the world at large, it is clear that Venom is not a force for good. Peter Parker realizes this but only just in time.

Eddie Brock, the character infected by Venom, was portrayed by Topher Grace in Spider-Man 3 with a very late appearance as Venom in the film.

Venom is the villain of the narrative, and Peter Parker, already infected by the Symbiote,  finds out that Eddie Brock is faking photos to sully the name of Spider-Man. 

After finding out, his boss promotes Peter Parker and fires Eddie Brock from the newspaper. This act becomes almost the entire basis for the genesis of the festering Venom infection that will only spread from here.

Feeling himself losing control, Peter realizes that the infection is affecting him badly and removes it, only for it to find its way to Eddie Brock. Buoyed by the evil urges from Venom, Brock seeks revenge against Peter Parker.

He kidnaps Mary Jane and gets Sandman on board to finally remove Spider-Man. Harry Osborne saves Spider-Man just before getting impaled by Green Goblin’s glider during a fight with Venom.

While Venom does almost claim victory, after Spider-Man launches a surprise attack that stuns Venom, he takes a pumpkin bomb from the Green Goblin, resulting in his death.

But this is just an introduction to the Venom Symbiote, as we see that even if a small piece of it survives, it can reinfect another host and start the cycle again. This shows how viable a villain Venom is, being able to survive almost anything.

Ironically enough, despite this teaser, due to the above mentioned legal issues, the Sony version of Venom was not seen again until much later.

2. Venom (2018)

Venom’s next appearance was as the titular character in the new shared universe, allowing easier collaboration between Marvel and Sony. 

Tom Hardy became the new Eddie Brock, cementing another solid performance for the British actor. 

Eddie Brock is once again a struggling journalist, who is the target of the alien symbiote Venom that gives him superhuman abilities. 

This depiction of Venom is also interesting, as we see that unlike when the Symbiote took over Peter Parker, Brock seems keen to work with the Symbiote to achieve heights he couldn’t alone.

Carlton Drake becomes the target of Venom, as Brock is not happy that the CEO of Life Foundation Company is using real people in its often deadly experiments, ostensibly to harness the power of the Symbiotes by forcing them to meld with a human.

Venom succeeds, destroying Life Foundation and their security, Riot. Venom also pushes Brock to become a vigilante, seeing them taking out criminals that prowl the city.

However eventually they separate, with the next teaser that Carnage, another Symbiote like Venom, is going to be the next villain. The combination of Venom and Carnage had been on the minds of Marvel fans for some time, and it was almost too much for some.

3. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

In terms of watch order, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a direct sequel to the previous Venom release, with Carnage being introduced as a nemesis.

This film also marks the true start of the shared universe between Sony and Marvel, with the appearance of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man near the conclusion of the film.

The story of the movie begins with Eddie Brock realizing that the serial killer Kasady’s victims are somehow related back to Venom; likely helped by Brock’s successful journalism career when helped by Venom.

Kasady obtains the particle of the Venom’s symbiote after a fight with Brock, immediately developing into the red-colored Carnage. Carnage has similar 

The balancing act between Venom and Brock comes tumbling down, with the former deciding to detach.

In a strange twist, the rise of Carnage causes the two to have second thoughts, with the dependent relationship likely also playing a part, seeing Venom reinfect Brock and take down Carnage.

Carnage boasts the same type of powers that hosts of the Venom Symbiote get, including superhuman strength, reflexes, agility and also Spider-Men like abilities such as climbing walls, creating webs and even creating bladed instruments from its own mass.

Carnage in the comic books can evade Spider-Man’s spidey sense, and this is one reason why so many were looking forward to a real rival to Spider-Man.

Brock and Venom become fugitives, with the final scenes witnessing the public reveal of Peter Parker’s superhero alter ego, confirming that all are in the same universe.

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Following on from this ability of Spider-Man and Venom to be in the same film, of course there has to be a blockbuster featuring one of the iconic Spider-Man villains pitted up against the perennial good guy.

However, No Way Home doesn’t provide this, with Venom only getting a mid-credits scene.

Tom Hardy’s Venom wasn’t the only cameo, but hopefully is the sign of good things to come for the Spider-Man franchise moving forward. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home was one of the best Spider-Man movies released, and fans all around the world are hoping that more of that same magic can be put into another Venom film.