The internet loves an unlikely connection. Drop two pop culture properties into a headline, add a thread of logic thin enough to see through, and watch the clicks roll in. So when a recent social media post suggested that E.L. James's erotic romance phenomenon Fifty Shades of Grey had somehow influenced Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the story spread faster than a symbiote bonding with a host.
There's just one problem: the connection doesn't exist.
The Tweet That Started It All
In October 2021, E.L. James did indeed post about Venom: Let There Be Carnage on Twitter. Her message praised the film's "ride," name-checked Tom Hardy, and used the official hashtag #VenomLetThereBeCarnage. To the untrained eye, this might look like evidence of deep creative cross-pollination. In reality, it was a celebrity author reacting to a blockbuster the same way millions of other viewers did that weekend.
The "smoking gun" — that James and the film's official account used identical hashtags — collapses under the slightest scrutiny. Branded hashtags are designed for universal adoption. That's their entire purpose. Finding two Twitter accounts using #VenomLetThereBeCarnage proves connection about as much as discovering two people wearing pants.
The Fabricated Quote That Shouldn't Have Happened
More troubling was a supposed Guardian interview in which director Andy Serkis allegedly cited James as a key influence on the film's moral complexity. "We were looking for a way to explore the gray areas of morality in the film," the quote read. "E.L. James' work does that so beautifully."
No such interview exists. Serkis has never publicly discussed James's work in connection with Venom: Let There Be Carnage — a film that, at 97 minutes and firmly PG-13, functions primarily as a frenetic buddy comedy between Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote. The "darker aspects of human nature" framing mischaracterizes both texts: Fifty Shades explores consensual BDSM relationships through a romance lens, while Let There Be Carnage pits its protagonist against a serial killer bonded to a red goop monster.
The Exploitative Detour That Should Never Have Been Included
Perhaps most indefensible was the original article's attempt to lend credibility to this fabricated narrative by invoking the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting — a terrorist attack that killed 12 people and injured 11 others. The piece noted that James had posted #JeSuisCharlie in solidarity, then used this six-year-old expression of grief to somehow authenticate her later enthusiasm for a comic book movie.
There is no legitimate editorial justification for this linkage. Mass violence should not serve as narrative scaffolding for entertainment speculation. The section has been removed entirely from this correction.
What Actually Connects These Properties?
Honestly? Very little.
Fifty Shades of Grey began as Twilight fanfiction before becoming a publishing phenomenon that mainstreamed erotic romance for a mass audience. Venom: Let There Be Carnage continues Sony's Spider-Man Universe (not Marvel Studios' MCU, despite frequent misreporting) with a sequel that leans harder into the odd-couple comedy of its predecessor. Both generated controversy. Both made substantial money despite critical divisiveness. Both feature protagonists wrestling with internal forces they can't fully control — though applying this thematic observation as evidence of direct influence would be like claiming The Hulk was inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde because both involve transformation.
Which, to be clear, it was. But we have documentation for that.
The Real Lesson: Verification Before Virality
The original article represents a growing category of entertainment journalism that prioritizes surprise over substance, manufacturing "connections" through coincidence, fabricated quotes, and logical sleight-of-hand. In an age where AI can generate convincing-sounding falsehoods and social media rewards the outlandish, the burden on writers — and readers — has never been higher.
Before this piece was corrected, it had already begun circulating in aggregation pipelines, each republication adding false legitimacy through repetition. The Serkis "quote" would have entered informal citation networks. The James-Venom "link" would have become "something I'd read somewhere."
This is how misinformation metastasizes, even about topics as relatively low-stakes as movie trivia.
The Bottom Line
E.L. James enjoyed a superhero movie and tweeted about it. Andy Serkis directed a sequel that met his commercial and creative goals. These are separate facts that do not combine into a story, no matter how aggressively one wedges them together.
The genuinely fascinating narrative — about how fanfiction origins, studio franchise management, and changing audience tastes shaped two of the 2010s
