Now a trilogy, the "Venom" movies have a distinct tone for Marvel-derived products, neither somber nor self-referential. That's largely due to its star's input.

These have been consistently messy, almost willfully bad movies, but Hardy’s performance has been a strangely compelling one-body buddy comedy. It’s one thing to throw a cape on and jump the sky. It’s another to run manically through the desert with an alien voice inside barking,