If I had a nickel for every time one half of a close male duo tearfully said “I love you” to the other in a situation that specifically involved evil black goo tendrils, I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.
It is so buckwild to me what Insomniac did with Harry Osborn and Venom.
In the vast majority of Spider-Media, Venom’s defining character trait is his hatred of Spider-Man, and at first, it looks like Insomniac might be going that route. They give Harry ample reason to be absolutely furious with Peter, to resent him, resent the life he gets to live, a beloved superhero with a girlfriend, healthy and strong, a genius of such caliber that even his own father seems to prefer him to Harry. His supposed “best friend” who seems to be withholding lifesaving medical treatment just because he likes how it feels on him, because it’s not enough that he be better and stronger and smarter than poor, sickly, doomed Harry, no, he has to be stronger than himself, stronger than the old Spider-Man could ever hope to be. It’s not enough for Peter to have his own powers, he has to have Harry’s as well, and if that comes at the cost of Harry’s life? Well, that’s just the cost of doing business. As long as it makes him a better Spider-Man, that’s all that matters, right?
It seems like they are going down the route where Harry gives into his anger and resentment, the symbiote whispering in his ear and exacerbating his worst aspects until there is nothing left of the sweet boy that Emily Osborn raised to be so deeply good, only a supervillain hellbent on revenge and world domination.
But that’s not what happens.
Instead, almost everything Harry does after the Venom symbiote takes over is framed as helping. As a genuine, if twisted belief that the world he is making is a better world. Instead of seeking revenge against Peter, Harry/Venom wants to convert him. Wants him to stand beside him as they “heal the world” together. And the odd thing is, this only becomes more true with time. At first, Harry/Venom seems almost indifferent to Peter, and angers quickly when Peter calls them a “thing.” But we see that the idea of Peter doing this with him, the need for his best friend to be beside him at the end of all things, eventually becomes so important to him that it is ultimately a weakness the heroes exploit.
Think about that; Harry Osborn’s love for Peter Parker is so powerful that it almost seems to be corrupting the Venom symbiote, infecting it and twisting its mind as surely as it twisted Peter’s, but in the opposite direction. It’s so wild to watch the scenes at the end of the game and hear Tony Todd, in his deep-ass Venom voice, read lines like “Thanks for coming, Pete 😊” with the same casual inflection and tone as Harry would. Saying “This is where we became best friends. Now it’s where we become brothers!” and sounding so pleased and excited that you’d think he was talking about Pete’s mom marrying his dad and not infecting him with alien mind goop.
It’s so incredible to me that the defining trait of Insomniac’s Venom isn’t hate; it’s love. A twisted, warped love that doesn’t fully understand itself, but a sincere and true love nonetheless, one that holds to the very end.
“We kept finding all these little innuendos where it seemed like maybe Peter and Harry like, maybe had a thing when they were a little bit younger. We’d be like, “Yeah, Spider-Bros! Spider-Bros forever, man.” It kept like spiralling into this, like, romantic thing where we’re like, ‘Yeah, we can’t talk about it in the game, you know!’“
My god did they throw in so manyachingly romantic tropes for the Peter/Harry story in MSM2. Peter’s utter refusal to believe that Harry is lost to the symbiote forever. Peter casually musing that if he was a bird, he’d go to the woods where he and Harry hung out as teenagers. Venom’s relentless pursuit of Spider-Man because he wants to heal the world, but only with him. Harry ripping open his chest to bare his heart to Peter. Peter’s whispered “I love you” happening seconds before the light comes down and heals everyone in the city, like those words were a magic spell. Harry’s last gift to Peter being Emily’s and May’s memorial plants along with instructions to combine them into one plant and spread it over the city, so it’s like Harry and Peter will live on forever as one. I JUST-
Why aren’t more people talking about the “Harry and I had found peace again. We’d found each other… at long last…” line every time I read it I feel like I’m catching a glimpse of a parallel universe where parksborn is allowed to be explicitly canon. Honestly even moreso than “Do you love my son?” (which is absolutely incredible in its own right) like Peter might as well have called Harry his soulmate. ESPECIALLY in combination with the fact that the “found peace” part is clearly a callback to Harry’s “Isn’t it time he two of us found a little peace?” line in Spectacular #200, which was referring to his murder-suicide attempt. Harry, back then, believed the only salvation for Peter and himself was in death, but Peter always knew their true salvation lies with one another. Despite all the guilt they both feel, all the ways in which they perceive themselves as burdens to their loved ones. Peter felt their love was stronger. More important. More defining. And Harry eventually came to agree.
Intentional or not, this was still the most beautiful love story.
