Especially after Deadpool & Wolverine, the way The Last Dance basically gives the multiverse the middle finger is kind of refreshing and makes it feel like Sony and Marcel — who also wrote the first two Venom films — are trying to stay in a very specific lane, similar to Madame Web ’s.

Venom: The Last Dance currently has a very poor 37% on Rotten Tomatoes across 71 critics. Very, very bad. But…this is Venom. And people love Venom,

Bad reviews don’t necessarily translate to a bad box office, however. Venom: The Last Dance is predicted to earn $65 million domestically and $100 million overseas during its opening weekend, which would go some way to recouping its reported $120 million budget.

It’s not a high bar – and yet, it’s still one that director Kelly Marcel’s Venom: The Last Dance manages to limbo beneath. Expectations should not be excessive going into the film; the ineptitude of Andy Serkis’ Venom: Let There Be Carnage following Ruben Fleischer’s Venom taught that particular lesson (not to mention Sony’s baffling and dreadful other efforts at expanding its Spider-Man Minus Spider-Man franchise).