Riot (2018 Film)


 * NOTE: This article is about the adaptation of Riot from the 2018 film. For the original version, see here.

"Venom.... get in the rocket! (Venom: No! We won't let you destroy this world!) Then DIE!!"

- Riot about to battle Venom. "TRAITOR!!!"

- Riot's last word to Venom before being destoryed by the rocket.

The Riot Symbiote is one of the two main antagonists (along with Carlton Drake) of the 2018 film Venom, based on the famous comic book of the same name. He is the destructive and sadistic leader of the symbiotes, who bonds with Drake in order to accomplish their shared goal of bringing his race to Earth to bond with humanity; although, unlike Drake, he does this in order to have the symbiotes destroy and devour the human race. This incarnation of Riot is also significantly stronger and more vicious than its original comics counterpart.

Much like his host Drake, he was voiced by Riz Ahmed.

Personality
Riot represents the worst side of the Symbiotes; a sadistic maniac who seems to enjoy nothing but destroying and killing everything in sight, for hardly any reason at all. This is different from the protagonist Venom who, while vicious and not hesitating to murder people, still has standards and often doesn't hurt innocents, preferring to kill bad people after its interaction with Eddie Brock, making him more of an anti-hero/anti-villain. They also have different relationships to their hosts; Venom grows to genuinely care for Eddie and ultimately bonds with him, while Riot often switches between hosts and couldn't care less about Drake.

Much like Drake, Riot has a hatred for humanity and seeks to bring the symbiotes to Earth, though unlike Drake who does it because he wants to evolve humanity, Riot seems to do it solely because of his own bigotry against them. Despite working together, they have quite different personalities; Drake is a cold, calculating, sophisticated and pragmatic genius whose corporate status is important to his publicity, occasionally compelling the man to put a nice facade and acts for publicity, while Riot is a rampaging brute who has no time for pragmatism and is solely interested in immediate consequence.

Biography
Riot was one of the four Symbiotes that was transported inside a comet from their planet to Earth. While the first three Symbiotes were captured by Drake and his men to perform illegal experiments on human hosts, Riot was the only one to escape, landing in Malaysia. For six months, Riot made all his way from Malaysia to the U.S. by hopping from one host body to another. Taking a little girl as its current host, Riot made his way to Life Foundation HQ, where he learns of Drake's intent to use a space probe into delivering more symbiotes. Knowing that doing so might lead the Symbiotes to use Earth as a feeding ground, Riot forms a deal with Drake to help him out before bonding with him.

However, Eddie Brock refuses to let this happen, even the Venom symbiote agreed to help him out as he states that Riot happens to be the 'team leader' that has 's**t you've never seen' and must be taken down. To that end, Brock re-bonds with Venom, who heads off to confront Riot at the launch platform. Riot demanded Venom to join him by ordering him to get into the rocket, but Venom refuses, prompting an angry Riot to declare that he will kill him for this. A battle between the symbiotes ensued, with Riot gaining the upper hand on Venom. However, Anne Weying uses a high-pitch sound to briefly weaken both symbiotes, but Riot stands his grounds before stabbing Brock and leaving him for dead. Fortunately, Venom saves Brock's life by bonding with him again as Riot boards the probe.

Just as probe is about to take off, Venom manages to soar into the hull, where he creates enough damage to ensure that the probe explodes. Upon witnessing this, Riot angrily declares Venom a traitor, but Venom tells Riot to have a happy life before escaping, just as the probe explodes, killing both Riot and Drake in the process.

Trivia

 * The comic book version of Riot has some differences from the film one:
 * While the comic version has a backstory as a part of Venom that fell out and became an entity of its own, the film version skips this and makes it a civilian of Venom's planet and isn't related to Venom itself in any way.
 * In the comics Riot has an entirely different host as Trevor Cole, while in the film Riot's host is Drake, though interestingly enough both hosts are part of the Life Foundation.