Disney Plus pulls Tom Hardy's Venom - causing a big hole in its superhero movie line-up
Fans of Spider-Man's most iconic villain will be disappointed - but the House of Mouse just doesn't own the franchise
You can no longer see Spider-Man's most iconic villain in action on Disney Plus - as the Venom movie has been axed from the service.
Superhero fans in the UK and Ireland will doubtless be disappointed at the move, but the problem is the House of Mouse doesn't actually own the rights to it. Sony does.
Unlike other Marvel Studios films, because Sony Pictures created 'Venom', Disney merely only licenses the film from them - along with others in the Spider-Man franchise.
And unfortunately for Disney Plus subscribers on these shores, there are other contracts with different streaming services which have to be honoured.
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Who knows if Venom will return to Disney Plus in the UK and Ireland?
Venom is frustratingly still available on the platform in other countries, so there is some hope of a return.
But Sony Marvel films have been to-ing and fro-ing from the streaming service for a while now, and because Disney doesn't tell subscribers that a title will be leaving, any removal can come as a bit of a shock.
Is the film actually any good?
The 2018 blockbuster starring Tom Hardy in the titular role serves as the origin story for one of Marvel's most enigmatic and complicated characters.
After losing his job and fiancée, Eddie Brock (Hardy) is at rock bottom in his life. And just when he thinks his existence cannot sink any lower, he inadvertantly becomes host to an alien symbiote with extraordinary superpowers (hey, it can happen to anyone).
Now known as Venom, our anti-hero has to decide whether to use these abilities for this new lethal protector to defeat great evil forces ... or not.
With a middling 6.6 rating on IMDb, it's fair to say Venom had mixed reviews on its release.
IMDb user Ch4ndler_B1ng summed it up perfectly with his favourable 73 per cent rating.
"This movie is kind of a mixed bag. There are certain elements of it that I think are creative, but by far it is definitely one of the lesser Marvel films".
He goes on to say that Venom is one of those 'ok movies that doesn't deserve hate, the scenes where the Venom inside Tom Hardy's character is talking to him are pretty hilarious'.
Others, like Watcher42 , were less taken with it, calling it 'an incredibly average film'.
They posted: "(the film) takes no risks. It's watered down. It's generic. It's trying to give the impression it's following Deadpool down the R-Rated super hero route, but it didn't have the guts to go the whole way, or even take a step really".
