Warning: Contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
No one in Venom: Let There Be Carnage calls Venom a symbiote anymore and there's a reason why. The first Venom followed scientists' study of the alien creatures after Venom and other symbiotes crash-landed on Earth. Dr. Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate) explained their research to journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) when he snuck into the facility to investigate, repeatedly using the term symbiote to describe what they saw. The label worked well to explain what Venom was—a creature living in symbiosis with another.
Venom and Eddie learned to work together after the Venom symbiote inhabited Eddie Brock's body, leading to a mutually beneficial relationship between them since Venom could heal any of Eddie's injuries and Eddie enabled Venom to survive on the planet. When they were on the same page about what they wanted, their connection was a kind of symbiosis. Yet this was not the case for much of the sequel, during which Venom and Eddie had a falling out and Venom left Eddie's body altogether.
This fight arguably symbolized one of the reasons Venom: Let There Be Carnage shied away from the term symbiote due to what it implies. The connotation of "symbiote" removes any concept of individuality, and associates Venom with the concept of something subhuman or monstrous, at the very least, nothing more than a lab specimen. Calling the character of Venom nothing more than a symbiote serves to dehumanize him when Let There Be Carnage clearly sought to do the opposite by showing Venom pursuing his own wants and needs and just enjoying being with other people. The movie showed that Venom was more than just a symbiote—more than just his need to survive off others.
Another reason to drop the word "symbiote" is that it implies a state of symbiosis, where two different organisms live in harmony with each other. Venom and Eddie were not in sync for much of the film, constantly bickering with each other and disagreeing over how they should act in certain situations. Their fighting got bad enough that Venom left and inhabited other bodies for a time, even though none of those bodies could survive with him very long. The movie's other symbiote, Carnage, had a difficult time working with his host, Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), as well. Carnage did not care for Cletus's lover, Shriek (Naomie Harris) and tried to kill her despite his protests. Neither relationship appeared particularly symbiotic in the film.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage moved away from calling Venom a symbiote, doing its best to emphasize that Venom was his own person and not just his connection to Eddie. Only time will tell how characters define him in future movies, and whether they see Venom as a hero or a monster. Hopefully, he'll continue to grow as a character beyond just his potential for symbiosis.
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