Sony has had multiple cracks at the Spider-Man franchise over the years and is just about to relaunch their Spider-Man universe with a guiding hand from Marvel next month with the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Through six total films in Sony’s Spider-Man ventures, there is one super Spidey villain yet to make an appearance on the big screen. Instead of unleashing him into a Spider-Man film, Sony will instead introduce the menacing Carnage in their upcoming Venom film.
Sony’s plans for the Venom film have been met with a good amount of caution and concern as Sony looks to build on the Spider-Man franchise with uncertainty how it will all play into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There has been some confusion as to how it will all tie together, especially with new Spider-Man actor Tom Holland not specifically tied to all of Sony’s expanding Spidey universe films. But Tom Hardy, who will play fan-favorite anti-hero Venom, now has an adversary to look forward to. Carnage is the absolute perfect antagonist to Venom, and let’s just hope Sony doesn’t screw this one up.
The Hollywood Reporter spilled the announcement almost in passing while detailing Hardy’s contractual obligations for the Spider-Man universe Sony is drafting;
As for the expansion plans, Tom Hardy is starring in Venom, dated for Oct. 5, 2018, which will also feature the villain Carnage. A source says Holland is only contractually obligated to Spider-Man 2 and 3, but the intention is to bring him into the spinoffs and possibly other Marvel films (he is currently shooting Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War).
So, who exactly is Carnage? Spider-Man fans no-doubt know exactly who he is, but for the uninformed, Carnage is basically the most ruthless and volatile enemy Spider-Man has ever had. And, spoiler alert, he just so happens to be one of the baddest villains Venom crosses paths with as well.
In the comics, Carnage has similar traits to Venom due to their connection to the Symbiote virus, which brings out the worst in anyone who hosts it. Cletus Kassady is a serial killer who shared a prison cell with Eddie Brock. Brock is the one who hosts the symbiote virus that transforms him into Venom. Kassady inherits the virus after a tiny part of the virus is left behind by Venom. Carnage was originally designed to be a meaner version of Venom. As bad ass as Venom is, Carnage doubles and triples the ferocity. With Venom likely to be given an R-rating (following a trend set by Deadpool and continued by Logan), the pairing of Venom and Carnage seems like a natural fit.
Time will tell just how the script will tell the story of Venom and Carnage, and there is nothing saying it has to play strictly by the source material. Clearly, changes are made in Marvel and other superhero movies for one reason or another. But Sony will have to do this well, because they are supposedly taking this one one without much help from Marvel. That puts a lot at stake for the future of Sony’s Spider-Man universe. After multiple failures with the Spidey brand, the last thing Sony will want to do is get a helping hand from Marvel for Spider-Man: Homecoming and then take two of Spider-Man’s best villains and release some complete garbage. The possibilities of what could be done with Spider-Man, Venom and Carnage in future films that may or may not be tied to the grand MCU story arc could be fascinating, although that probably remains highly unlikely. But if Sony can pull this off with high praise, then the door could be left open to some more opportunities.
The pressure is on with Venom, Sony. Please, don’t mess this one up.
Venom is scheduled for release in theaters on October 5, 2018.
