This is what watching superhero movies for one week taught me

Venom (2018)

Basing my film choices on the attractiveness of the leading man was my first mistake. I was eager to see Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) in a movie where his face isn’t covered. I didn’t know he spends most his on-screen time in Venom looking as if he’s going to puke.

That’s what happens when Eddie Brock’s (Hardy) body is overtaken by a parasite brought to Earth by a crazy billionaire trying to save the planet. And therein lies one of my major problems with superhero movies — the villains. They are either trying to destroy the planet, take over the planet or destroy humanity trying to shape our world into whatever perverse image suits their mood.

Halfway though Venom, I had to stop and double-check that it actually qualifies as a superhero movie since the creature Venom has nefarious intentions, likes to eat people and is sucking the life out of Brock.  But then Venom has a change of whatever constitutes its heart, decides to defeat an even nastier parasite and remain on Earth … inside Eddie. As long as Venom gets to consume bad guys, Eddie lives and enjoys perks like speed and strength.

This is when I discovered not all Marvel movies are created equal. Venom isn’t part of the Infinity Saga and watching it wasn’t going to help me make much sense of anything Marvel related moving forward.