Venom 4: King in Black (2025) is a thunderous return to the symbiote saga, and it wastes no time diving into the darkness. Directed with operatic ambition, this fourth installment shatters the boundaries between horror and superhero cinema. At its center: Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock, haunted, hardened, and more conflicted than ever.
The film introduces its true terror early — Knull, the ancient god of the symbiotes, looms like a cosmic nightmare. He’s not just a villain; he’s an existential threat, a primordial force that doesn’t want to rule Earth — he wants to drown it in silence and shadow. Through terrifying imagery and mythic scale, Knull instantly positions himself as one of the most fearsome antagonists Marvel has ever dared to put on screen.
Tom Hardy continues to embody duality with aching precision. Eddie’s inner war with Venom, once a source of dark comedy, becomes something deeper — more desperate. When he becomes host to a fragment of Knull’s will, known as the Codex, the story reaches a psychological crescendo. This isn’t just about saving the world. It’s about saving Eddie from becoming the very monster he fights.
The long-awaited reunion between Venom and Spider-Man finally arrives — and it’s worth the wait. Tom Holland brings Peter Parker’s signature tension: reluctant cooperation, moral clarity, and raw vulnerability. Watching him and Hardy share screen time is electric. Their uneasy alliance feels earned, with witty banter masking a deep mutual respect forged in battle.
Visually, King in Black pushes the franchise into haunting new territory. The skies over New York are veiled in inky storms. Buildings drip with living darkness. Tendrils creep and spiral like gothic horror illustrations brought to life. Cinematographer Greig Fraser lends the film a sense of grandeur and doom, crafting battle sequences that are as beautiful as they are brutal.
The action is relentless but carefully choreographed. Each fight is loaded with emotional weight. Spider-Man’s agility dances against the brute force of Knull’s symbiote warriors, while Venom himself takes on creatures that look like nightmares sculpted from tar and bone. The final battle atop the Empire State Building is a staggering set piece — kinetic, savage, and unforgettable.
Yet amid the chaos, King in Black never forgets its soul. Eddie’s bond with Venom deepens not just as allies, but as brothers. The film asks: what does it mean to share a body, a mind, a life? In many ways, it’s the most intimate entry in the series, revealing Eddie’s buried guilt, loneliness, and yearning to be more than just a vessel of destruction.
Knull, portrayed with icy menace by a yet-to-be-revealed actor, never devolves into a cliché. He is philosophical, terrifyingly calm, and utterly convinced of his divine right to extinguish light. His conversations with Eddie aren’t just villain monologues — they’re seductive, existential arguments about the futility of resistance. It’s spine-chilling.
By the time the credits roll, Venom 4 has left more than destruction in its wake — it leaves questions. About identity. About duality. About what separates hero from monster when both are forged in pain. And with its post-credits scene teasing the arrival of a new cosmic symbiote, the darkness may have only just begun.
In King in Black, the Venom franchise reaches its most epic, most emotional, and most terrifying height. It’s a tale of inner war, uneasy alliances, and a darkness ancient enough to swallow worlds — unless two unlikely heroes can stop it.
Watch movie:
*Content is hosted on a partner site.
