8 Years Later, Tom Hardy’s Best Comic Book Movie Is a Surprise Streaming Hit

It’s not uncommon for movies to have longevity in the age of streaming. After all, streaming services open up entirely new audiences for films as well as lets fans have easy, on-demand access to favorite movies well after they’ve left theaters. Going even beyond the access of it all, some genres of movies seem to be regular favorites, particularly superhero and comic book fare and it’s pretty routine to see different MCU hits appear in the streaming charts and rankings. But even within the world of capes and cowls, there are a few movies that keep climbing up the charts in a big way and surprise us and now, what might just be Tom. Hardy’s best within the superhero world is doing exactly that on Disney+.

If you thought we were going to say that The Dark Knight Rises was for some reason crushing it on Disney+, well, you’re off not only by a few release years but also a streaming platform. While Hardy was no doubt great as Bane in that film, the movie we’re actually talking about is 2018’s Venom. The first Venom film — and the first film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe — saw Hardy play Eddie Brock, a journalist who ends up merging with the alien symbiote Venom while investigating founder of the Life Foundation, Carlton Drake. It turns his life upside down but also turns Eddie (and Venom) into something of a dark, unlikely superhero. It’s arguably the best of the three total Venom films — the film was followed up by 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage and 2024’s Venom: The Last Dance.

Why Is Venom a Streaming Hit Now?

While superhero movies tend to be staples on streaming, it’s interesting that Venom is rising on the Disney+ charts right now, but there are a couple of reasons that might be driving it. The first is that the second season of Hardy’s hit crime thriller, MobLand is headed to Paramount later this week and it’s pretty common for an actor to see some of their higher profile projects get a boost in streaming popularity ahead of new releases. Another solid reason for the boost in Venom’s ranking is proximity in time to the release of the latest Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day. That film hit theaters back in July and was a massive box office hit. Given that Venom is part of Spider-Man’s overall universe in comics — and fans have been forever hoping to see the two come into contact on the big screen as well — it’s also not a huge stretch that all things related to Spider-Man might be getting a little bit of a streaming boost. This actually bears out if you look at the rest of Disney+’s streaming charts, as Spider-Man: Far From Home, 2002’s Spider-Man, and even Kraven the Hunter are all rising on the charts right now.

But another big reason that we might be seeing a spike in popularity for Venom is the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. While there is absolutely no indication or even any rumors that we’ll see Venom appear or even be hinted at in the film, that doesn’t mean that fans can’t dream. And, if we’re being honest, we can’t blame them. Hardy did ever so briefly appear at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home in a cameo appearance as Eddie Brock and Venom. It was an appearance that many hoped would ultimately lead to a full-on crossover between Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and the MCU. Unfortunately, that has not panned out. In fact, the future of the SSU is a bit up in the air, with development on further movies halted after the box office failure of Kraven the Hunter. But hey, fans can still dream.

Venom is currently streaming on Disney+.

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