| Norman Osborn knows who Peter is, is a perfect match in terms of combat prowess, knows how to break him psychologically (something Carnage and Venom wouldn't even understand), and the last battle between Spidey and Norman took them across the entirety of Manhattan - this with nothing but their fists, and involving Luke Cage. He's been Peter's darker half for thirty years, he killed Gwen Stacy broke his family, is directly or indirectly responsible for most of the major tragedies in Peter's life....I could go on. He's behind so many bad guys it's hilarious.
Venom and Carnage are intellectually bankrupt jokes who have nothing going for them: they're pure violence, no inherent value in terms of drama. They're not compelling in any way except for how violently they kill people, and that's not enough to drive a comic book or a movie. Read The Last Hunt, and you'll see twisted violence used to effect - but not by Venom and Carnage. They have no personality outside of "kill kill kill". It's boring. It's stale. It's so 90's it doesn't bear any mind nowadays.
Norman, though? He's all personality. He's the Joker for Spider-Man, only he's worse because he can plan for years instead of days, he can break Peter's mind and take his life to pieces. He was the first person to ever make Spider-Man utters the words "I will kill you," and he laughed in Peter's face when he recoiled at the reality of his own darkness.
Norman Osborn is the devil.
Venom and Carnage are jokes. |