Should Venom be a hero or a villain?

[JTHM]

Just what says in the title.

Though, to be fair. When I mean Venom I mostly mean the Eddie Brock incarnation of the character, as opposed to other possible hosts that take the Symbiote to one or another direction naturally (Like Flash Thompson or Mac Gargan) Since he is the one that has been jumping back and forth the most. In recent times, he seems to have been pushed really hard into the Heroic side, more or less since the 2016 return. Now with Cates, it is very clear he wants to make Venom a household name separate from Spider-Man and taken into consideration by the rest of the Superhero community (by putting him in Avengers teams and all) contrary to his original Anti-Hero run, which was...well, the 90s.

In general it has been a long while since Eddie Brock has been a villain (with the Venom Symbiote) but from what I've gathered in several places of the fandom, a lot of people still feel that's the place where he belongs. What do you guys think about it? Do you think Venom should be his own hero, or that he should return to be a villain to Spider-Man like other attempts (Like Superior Spider-Man)?

[Snoop Dogg]

The last decade of Venom books beats any Spider-Man vs Venom story to death.

[Celgress]

It depends on the version: I prefer Eddie as a villain whereas I prefer Flash as a hero.

[Restingvoice]

if the character development from villain to hero happened organically and makes sense then I don't want them reversed. They can always make a kind of a timeless classic series if they want, or just the usual cartoons and games that always use the classic version

[SuperiorIronman]

Venom as a villain is typically very one dimensional. They hate Spider-man for either poorly justified reasons or that the suit is just inherently evil. Neither of which is particularly compelling. That's not to say Venom couldn't be antagonistic, but inherently evil or nursing grudges just doesn't work. That being said there's just no reason to return Venom to the rogues gallery especially since the Spider books wasted the Anti-Venom concept twice.

[K7P5V]

Venom (Brock) & Agent Venom (Flash Thompson)



Without a doubt, I love both versions and I'm fine with whatever direction is chosen. I'm just hopeful that there's a way for both of them to coexist.

[Mauled]

I wouldn't call him a hero more an Anti hero. Lets face it if he was made a straight up hero, he's just a bigger version of Spidey in a black suit. A villain otoh only has a limited shelf life. An anti hero though now that works

[Voices From the Eyrie]

Flash Thompson showed us that Venom can be a hero...

... But Eddie Brock can't be a hero and shouldn't be a hero. Despite the BS he spewed about innocents, he flat out murdered innocent people in his first appearances and never, ever was it necessary.

Find a new host for the symbiote if you want Eddie to be a hero.

[TheCape]

Venom as a villain is typically very one dimensional. They hate Spider-man for either poorly justified reasons or that the suit is just inherently evil. Neither of which is particularly compelling. That's not to say Venom couldn't be antagonistic, but inherently evil or nursing grudges just doesn't work. That being said there's just no reason to return Venom to the rogues gallery especially since the Spider books wasted the Anti-Venom concept twice.

I actually think that Brock's reason to hate Peter being so poorly justified is a feature not a bug, because it shows you Eddie's biggest flaw, he blames other people for his actions instead of taking responsability for it, wich make his conflict with Peter more compelling, because we know how serious he is about that. Hell even "Lethal Protector" Venom acknoleged that flaw and Cate's Venom does the same, plus giving him a reason for it.

[TheCape]

Overall, Venom, wich to me should only be Eddie Brock, because IMO, Venom should be the fusion between the symbioye and Brock especifically, anyone else bonding with it should be another thing, is better as a villain, mostly because his concept is solid and good villains are hard to come by these days in superhero stories. But it is also true that not one has done much with him as a villain in the last few years, hell Eddie didn't recover the symbiote until 3 years ago, after Millar's run and he has been an anti-hero since his return.
Plus with the movie and Cates run, him being a villain again looks more and more unlikely, so i think that the best we can expect in future adaptations is him starting as bad guy and becoming good eventually. And at least is more comitted to the idea of making Brock/Venom a good guy (or anti-hero) than Micheline ever did (is well known that he hated the idea).

Flash Venom only worked under Remender IMO and is really not my preferred plotline for him (nor it was cripling him, but that's another matter), still i understand why he has fans.

Gargan was a waste of time and one of the most pointless moves ever made.

[Frontier]

It depends on the story.

I expect future Spider-Man cartoons and media will still use villain Venom even if the comics version remains an anti-hero indefinitely.

[Chris0013]

I am fine with Eddie...but needs to be an anti-hero type. If (when?) Flash comes back make him a super soldier...otherwise it all just becomes musical symbiotes til the next guy comes along an gives it back to Brock.

[PCN24454]

I'm fine with either, but the flip-flop is annoying.

[Celgress]

I am fine with Eddie...but needs to be an anti-hero type....

Agreed, Eddie should either be a villain or anti-hero. Eddie should never be presented as a straight-up hero.

[SpideyClone]

I'm sure at some point he'll be a villain again. See Sandman, Superior Spider-man, Invincible Iron Man, Sabretooth, Helmut Zemo for reference. Just a matter of time before the status quo strikes again.