Are you a Marvel fan wondering: Who owns Venom? In recent years, Venom has become one of the most trending characters in the Marvel Universe. The character has had its own successful movie. And it’s been a member of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy. Venom has even had its own solo comic book series.
But despite all of this success, this one big question still remains. The answer to this question is actually quite complicated. Venom was created by two different people: writer Denny O’Neil and artist Todd McFarlane. However, McFarlane really brought the character to life with his iconic artwork.
So, if you would like to get a clear perspective on the ownership of the Venom character, read on.
What is the Venom Character?
Venom is a Spider-Man villain that first appeared in 1988. He’s a Symbiote, an alien creature that needs to bond with a host to survive. Venom has bonded with several different hosts over the years, but the most popular one is Eddie Brock.
Venom is usually portrayed as a villain, but he’s sometimes played the anti-hero. In the 2018 Venom movie, Tom Hardy played Venom as an anti-hero.
Venom is a popular character, and he’s appeared in many comics, movies, and TV shows over the years. The character also got its own movie from Sony in 2018.
Who Owns Venom?
Technically, Sony owns the movie rights to Venom, but Marvel Studios owns the Venom character. That’s why we’ve seen two different versions of Venom in the movies so far. In Spider-Man 3, Venom was played by Topher Grace, and he was a villain. In Sony’s 2018 Venom movie, Tom Hardy played Venom as an anti-hero.
The complicated rights situation arose because Marvel Studios is owned by Disney. But Sony has the movie rights to Spider-Man. That means Sony can make movies about Spider-Man and characters related to him, like Venom. But because Marvel Studios owns Venom, they have to work with Sony if they want to use the character in their movies.
For example, Venom was originally going to be in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but he was cut from the movie. We also saw a glimpse of Venom in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Homecoming, but that’s about it.
This is where things get a bit tricky. When O’Neil and McFarlane created Venom, they did so under what is known as a “work for hire” agreement. This means that, technically, Sony owns the character, as they are the ones who paid O’Neil and McFarlane to create him.
However, there is one big catch: McFarlane has always claimed that he owns the visual design of Venom. And he has even gone so far as to sue Sony over it. The legal situation is still ongoing, but it’s safe to say that Venom is a character with an utterly complicated ownership history.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, Sony owns the movie rights to Venom, but Marvel Studios owns the Venom character. That’s why we’ve seen two different versions of Venom in the movies so far. It’s unclear what the future holds for Venom. But he could possibly appear in a future Marvel movie. Only time will tell. While the answer may not be as simple as you’d hoped, at least you have a clearer picture through this article.