Venom co-creator Todd McFarlane has revealed one of his biggest issues with how the character was portrayed in Spider-Man 3. While Venom is one of Spider-Man's most popular villains, director Sam Raimi has admitted he never really got the character’s appeal. This created an issue when he was essentially forced to include Venom in Spider-Man 3 by the studio. Raimi had already settled on Sandman and New Goblin as villains, so including Venom unbalanced the storyline somewhat.

Raimi chose to use the Venom symbiote as a chance to explore Peter Parker’s dark side, but it was clear once Venom possessed Eddie Brock (Topher Grace), the director didn’t know what to do with the character. This led to an underwhelming third act battle between Spider-Man and Venom, who is dispatched fairly easily. Fans and critics were disappointed with how the character was used in the movie, and producer Avi Arad recently admitted it was a mistake to push Raimi to include Venom.

Related: Spider-Man 3 Would Have Been Much Better Without Venom

Venom recently got his very own movie starring Tom Hardy, which has proven to be a massive success. Venom co-creator Todd McFarlane is very happy about how the new movie handled the character, but in a new conversion with Collider, he revealed one of his main issues with Spider-Man 3’s portrayal. In short, Venom was way too small. McFarlane intentionally designed Venom as a hulking monster who Spider-Man could never beat in direct combat, forcing the hero to be more creative. McFarlane felt having Grace’s Venom be the same size as Spider-Man took away much of his menace.

Venom’s Spider-Man 3 appearance was supposed to set up a solo movie, but the critical reaction to the movie killed those plans. Sony also planned to resurrect the character for The Amazing Spider-Man 3, with Channing Tatum reportedly very interested in the part. Once Marvel and Sony made an agreement to share Spider-Man, however, the character was rebooted and Tom Holland took over the role of Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War.

While Hardy’s Venom movie received mixed reviews, it quickly became a surprise smash hit worldwide. Sony is now building a new universe based around Spider-Man villains, with Jared Leto’s Morbius movie being the next release. While neither Spider-Man nor Peter Parker made an appearance in Venom, screenwriter Jeff Pinker recently teased there could be a crossover between the two in a future movie.

More: Venom Movie Writer Hints At Spider-Man In Future Sequel

Source: Collider