The stories that made Venoma Marvel fan-favorite are never going to be adapted. The Tom Hardy Venom films might have taken some inspiration from the groundbreaking Lethal Protector miniseries, but the ’90s stories that followed go to some downright surreal places that the MCU is no place for. Case in point: Venom: The Madness.
Venom: The Madness was written by Ann Nocenti, with art by Kelley Jones. The gloriously unhinged three-issue series infects Eddie Brock with the sentient “Mercury Virus,” which becomes another voice in his head, competing with Venom.
This wild set-up leads to a bizarre conclusion, in the kind of off-the-wall story that Marvel rarely, if ever, indulges in these days.
Venom’s Original Early ’90s Anti-Hero Era Is Too Hardcore For Marvel To Ever Adapt
Venom: The Madness, Written By Ann Nocenti, Art By Kelley Jones; Published In 1993-1994
Venom: The Madness was the character’s fourth solo series; it came out in late 1993, the same year that Lethal Protector launched a whole new era of Venom. Written by X-Men veteran Ann Nocenti, The Madness was all about pushing Eddie Brock to his limit, in order to test his newfound desire to be a hero.
It does so by adding another character, the Mercury Virus, to the Eddie Brock/Venom dynamic. This trio of consciousness minds, all sharing Brock’s body, quickly proves overwhelming for the human, especially when Mercury starts to appeal to his worse influences, much like Venom used to. All of this leads to an unexpected final confrontation with a manifestation of Paranoia itself.
Contemporary Marvel Comics generally aim for the same quality: epicness. Series like Venom: The Madness, or Ann Nocenti’s “Mojoverse” X-Men stories, are a reminder that in the late 1980s and early ’90s, Marvel was more than happy to strive for strangeness instead, something The Madness unabashedly delivers in copious quantities.
Style, Vibe, And Its Intense Depiction Of Venom Are All Reasons “The Madness” Will Never Make It To Screen
Marvel Wants A More Toned Down Venom In The MCU
There’s a limit to how strange, and how dark, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is willing to get. Venom: The Madness blows past both those lines in the sand easily. It is a storytelling pace and vibe that Marvel and the MCU don’t mess with much anymore, and the same can be said for Kelley Jones’ artistic style.
The Madness has the dense panels and hyperbolic designs characteristic of ’90s Marvel, which is no longer in vogue. It’s a visual style that is almost too grotesque for a cinematic adaptation, unless David Cronenberg was going to take the reins of the Venom franchise. As for Venom, his character is too raw and unpolished for the MCU.
The anti-hero concept has evolved alongside Venom since the early ’90s; at the time, Venom was very much “anti-,” but starting to understand what it meant to be a “hero.” The Madness furthers that arc, but it also doesn’t pull its punches with how dangerous its version of Venom is, which is just one more reason it will likely never be replicated.
Venom: The Madness is available now from Marvel Comics.
- First Appearance
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The Amazing Spider-Man
- Alias
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Eddie Brock
- RELATIONSHIPS
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Eddie Brock (primary host and ally), Peter Parker/Spider-Man (initial enemy, later uneasy ally), Anne Weying (former wife of Eddie Brock and occasional host), Cletus Kasady/Carnage (offspring of the Venom symbiote and a deadly enemy)
- Alliance
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Vigilante
