Venom's massive success at the box office made a sequel virtually guaranteed.
Confirmed details are all but nonexistent at this point, but rumors and spoilers have
already started leaking — so here's a look at what we can reasonably expect from Venom
2.
If you were waiting for Woody Harrelson to show up in Venom, then you had to wait until
the mid-credits for a brief scene.
Presumably returning to his career as an investigative journalist, Eddie Brock is summoned to San
Quentin, where Harrelson waits in a cage.
Everything about the scene feels like the foundation for a sequel, and in May 2018,
Harrelson confirmed he'd be showing up in Venom 2.
If you're a Marvel Comics fan, then the hints about Woody Harrelson's role in Venom's mid-credits
scene weren't real subtle.
In the comics, Venom's symbiote species reproduces asexually, and Venom's own symbiote spawn
had the horrible idea of bonding to serial killer Cletus Kasady.
The result was the villain Carnage.
He's tougher than Venom and has a body count to rival the Joker's.
Even though no one in the mid-credits scene says his name -- with Harrelson's curly red
wig, the fact that he's a convicted serial killer, his penchant for writing in blood,
and of course his closing line--
"When I get outta here…and I will..."
There's gonna be carnage."
-- the signs point pretty hard to Venom's bad guy having a bit more red coloring in
the second movie.
Considering the nature of the character, it's surprising Venom didn't earn an R rating.
According to producer Avi Arad, Venom 2 won't be R either.
That's an even a bigger surprise with the likelihood of Carnage's involvement in the
sequel.
But Arad doesn't think you need an R rating to do Carnage justice.
He told Collider,
"It's not about what he does because we never have to show the knife going from here to
there."
The Venom producer described Cletus Kasady as a soul filled with torment, and that he
wants audiences to be able to feel for him.
Sympathetic villains can certainly sell; the success Tom Hiddleston found as the MCU's
Loki is proof of that.
And Venom supports what Arad says about not having to show all the violence on the screen.
For example, we know Venom eats villains in the film, though we never actually see him
do it.
We'll see if the filmmakers can do likewise with Carnage.
But if the comics are any indication, they're going to need to kill a lot of people off-screen
-- a lot.
To comic book purists, divorcing Venom's movie origin from Spider-Man may have been more
painful than a symbiote being ripped from its host, but Venom director Ruben Fleischer
seems fairly sure the current live-action versions of both characters will collide on-screen
eventually.
Speaking to ScreenRant, Fleischer said,
"I'd love to see [Venom] face off against Spider-Man at some point.
It feels like that's inevitable."
Fleischer went on to say he knew that both Tom Hardy and Tom Holland were excited about
the prospect, and that he didn't know whether or not that would mean Venom would or could
become part of the MCU.
So is it possible we could we see this inevitable clash in Venom 2?
It's an enticing possibility, especially if Carnage proves to be the sequel's villain.
In the comics Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage have always worked as an interesting trio
of combatants, particularly with Venom sometimes flip-flopping between allies.
It's enough to make you want to imagine that the sequel to Venom might be titled Venom:
Maximum Carnage.
Considering Venom's record-breaking success, you'd think the director could name his own
price to helm the sequel.
But Variety pointed out that it looks like Venom director Ruben Fleischer won't be able
to direct Venom 2, whether he wants to or not.
Fleischer directed 2009's post-apocalyptic comedy Zombieland and in July 2018 Sony confirmed
the production of Zombieland 2 with pretty much all of the original's stars returning
— as well as Fleischer, who's set to direct the sequel.
If Fleischer is going to be busy directing Zombieland 2, then it could be difficult if
not impossible for him to also direct Venom 2.
The Variety article didn't offer any hints about who, if anyone, Sony might be considering
to replace Fleischer.
It could be that — since both franchises are under Sony's tent — the studio is trying
to find a way to facilitate Fleischer helming both projects before fishing for a successor.
Considering Harrelson will probably be playing Carnage in Venom 2 as well as appearing in
Zombieland 2, maybe he and Fleischer could just… carpool or something.
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