‘Venom’s Biggest Plot Hole Addressed by Director Ruben Fleischer

At the risk of sounding obtuse when talking about alien lifeforms crashing on Earth and bonding with humans in a scheme to take over the world while one of them becomes a reluctant hero despite trying to eat people, Venom does have some plot holes. Shocking, we know, but there’s one glaring part in the film that doesn’t make sense given the rules it establishes later on. Director Ruben Fleischer recently addressed said major plot hole.

In particular, the film makes it clear that most people who bond with the symbiotes end up being killed, as only ideal hosts can sustain the partnership for longer periods of time. So why does the Riot symbiote manage to bond with an old woman in Malaysia, then take six months to travel to a nearby airport? The Riot symbiote makes it clear it is traveling to San Francisco in order to reach the Life Foundation, but takes six months to get to an airport in a small country? With a less-than-ideal host?

Fleischer spoke with GameSpot about Riot’s journey, explaining it in a fashion that never was shown in the film.

“Our idea was that Riot was using up the life force of whoever he took, and then he jumped ship when he’d consumed them and then find a new host to carry him further on his journey,” Fleischer said. Which is kind of funny considering Riot sticks with the same host during that whole six-month time jump.

Fleischer did have a solid explanation for why the movie needed this passage, considering the narrative arc Eddie Brock needed to experience.

“That’s one of our few–hopefully–few logic bumps. But we had to have a passage of time in order to show Eddie’s downfall, and that was the one thing that doesn’t entirely track,” Fleischer said. “But I like to think that old lady was going around murdering all throughout Malaysia, and she was just having a good old time just shooting shards through different people in Malaysia.”

Obviously, this wasn’t a pressing question for Fleischer or star Tom Hardy, as it wasn’t addressed in the film’s runtime.

Venom might not be the critical darling that some fans and filmmakers would hope it to be, but it is definitely lighting up the box office. If it carries to a strong second weekend, it is very likely to get that sequel with the Carnage symbiote that many fans are hoping for.

Venom is now playing in theaters.