Venom was a very odd choice to be a villain in a Sam Raimi “Spider-Man” movie. The franchise, before “Spider-Man 3,” had largely involved baddies from vintage 1960s Spider-Man comics, the kind that director Sam Raimi had grown up reading. Venom, meanwhile, was somebody who was introduced into the broader Spider-Man mythology in the 1990s, decades into the character’s run. He was emblematic of edginess and other trends in comic books from that era, a sharp contrast to the endearingly old-fashioned sensibilities of Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin or even fellow “Spider-Man 3” adversary Sandman.

In talking to SuperheroHype, Sam Raimi revealed that Venom, unsurprisingly, was not a character he was chomping at the bit to introduce. Instead, producer Avi Arad told Raimi that he had to include villains in the “Spider-Man” movies that fans wanted to see rather than focusing exclusively on foes that Raimi was super beholden to. After this conversation, Raimi decided to put Venom into “Spider-Man 3” per Arad’s instructions. From there, Raimi began to learn more and more about Venom and eventually found a way to work him into the narrative as a way of reflecting the horrors of vengeance. Despite Raimi trying his best to work him into the film to please fans, Venom’s eventual presence in the film would prove controversial, and Arad himself would express regret over forcing the character into the feature.