Everything We Know About Venom Let There Be Carnage

Everything We Know About Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down everything we know about “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.”

For this list, we’ll be looking at all the available info and rumors surrounding the Sony Venom sequel, “Let There Be Carnage”.

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#10: Andy Serkis Is Directing

The first “Venom” film certainly did well at the box office, but there were many fans and critics who felt there was room for improvement. For the sequel, Andy Serkis is taking over the helm as director. Serkis is best known for his groundbreaking work in motion-capture. He has played such iconic characters as King Kong, Snoke, and Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. Most famously, however, he portrayed Caesar in the Planet of the Apes trilogy to critical acclaim. In recent years, he’s been focusing on directing. After 2017’s “Breathe” and “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle” in 2018, this will be his third feature film as a director. Given his experience with mocap and strange characters, it seems like a great choice.

#9: The Cast

It should come as no surprise that Tom Hardy is returning to his starring role as Eddie Brock. He’ll once again also be lending his voice to Brock’s monstrous other half, Venom. For those who like some romantic entanglement in their comic book movies, you’ll be happy to know that Michelle Williams is also returning as Anne Weying, along with Reid Scott as Dan Lewis. The major addition is, of course, Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady. The serial killer teased at the end of the previous film, Kasady will become Carnage, just like in the comics. He’s not alone, however! Naomie Harris has also joined the cast as Frances Barrison, and seems poised to play an important role.

#8: It's Been About a Year & Half

In the lead up to a high profile release, directors and studio execs are usually obsessed with secrecy. Perhaps in response to the delays caused by COVID-19, however, Andy Serkis actually offered up an extended behind-the-scenes commentary to go along with the release of the first trailer. In it, he revealed a number of interesting details, including how much time has passed since the events of the previous film. According to the director, it’s been about 18 months. And when you’re living with an extraterrestrial parasite, that’s a long time! This apparently also accounts for the change in Cletus Kasady’s hair, and the way in which Brock and Venom’s relationship has evolved. We’re curious to see how they’ve been keeping busy.

#7: Doubling Down on Conflicting Tones

One of the most notable things about the 2018 “Venom” film was the tone. Given the character’s violent nature and comic book history, many fans were expecting a dark and gritty origin story. Others were worried that Venom would be sanitized into a basic vigilante and pale imitation of his comic book counterpart. Defying expectations, however, the film chose to be at once violent and comedic—arguably even more so than the MCU. Venom swings wildly from moments of menace to downright absurd dialogue and moments of slapstick and physical comedy. From the looks of the trailer, rather than dialing it back, the sequel is leaning into that dual personality. And it seems like Kasady will be every bit as unpredictable as our unlikely hero.

#6: It's a Story About Broken People

As director Andy Serkis explained in the aforementioned video, “Let There Be Carnage” is fundamentally a very human story. Sure, the action looks epic, and there are extraterrestrial aliens in the mix, but at its core, this is about people and their demons. Eddie Brock, Kletus Kasady and Frances Barrison are all very different on paper. But when you get down to the heart of the matter, they’re all lost souls, damaged by trauma, and looking for an identity or connection. Brock fights the good fight while Kasady has fully leaned into the darkness. As for Barrison, well, fans of the comics will have an idea, but we don’t want to jump to conclusions.

#5: The Mind of Cletus Kasady

As fans of the comics can tell you, Cletus Kasady is as twisted as they come. He’s not like most other villains who just want power or money. He commits evil acts for their own sake and revels in violence, pain and brutality. There’s a reason he’s so often been depicted as the Marvel equivalent of the Joker. As Serkis explains, however, there’s more to Kasady than meets the eye. In classic serial killer fashion, he’s got a certain off-kilter charm to him. Perhaps most intriguing is his child-like imagination. In the trailer, we can see that Kasady has covered his cell in drawings; it almost seems to play a similar role to that of art therapy in helping kids express themselves. Just...more twisted.

#4: Cletus Kasady Is Obsessed with Eddie

Speaking of childishness, you’ll notice that Cletus has some strange mannerisms. He’s smiling and talking like a young boy putting on his very best behavior for his grandparents. But this childlike manner comes across as extremely creepy given the fact that we know what he’s actually capable of. Whatever the reason, Kasady seems to have taken that childlike wonder and focused it squarely on Eddie Brock. After their meeting in the post-credit scene of the first film, they’ve apparently kept up contact. For Brock, it’s surely just a journalistic investigation. But Kasady apparently sees Brock as some kindred spirit. By the time the second film kicks off, Brock is pretty much the only person Kasady will open up to. He’s obsessed.

#3: It Introduces Shriek

We mentioned earlier that Naomie Harris is joining the cast as Frances Barrison. As fans of the comics will tell you, Barrisson is an extremely troubled woman who goes by the villainous name of Shriek. The details of her character are being kept under wraps for the time being, but we can get a rough idea from the comics. Like her name suggests, she specializes in sonic beams. In the source material, Shriek and Carnage are partners in both crime and romance, so it will be interesting to see how the filmmakers have their dynamic play out. She also once bonded with a symbiote called Scorn, so… anything’s possible.

#2: Carnage Is the Central Villain

We’re excited to see Shriek joining the party, especially with talented Naomie Harris playing her. Venom and Carnage, however, clearly remain the starring attractions. Given the film’s title, there will most certainly be Carnage, and from the looks of the trailer, we suspect that Cletus Kasady will be getting his symbiote and unleashing carnage upon the world relatively early on in the film. That’s great, because while we enjoy the whole Hannibal Lecter behind bars energy of Woody Harrelson, the people want to see Carnage in his element—living up to his name. Just how far the filmmakers will push the violence and gore, however, only time will tell!

#1: Carnage's Abilities

This is a superhero movie. So of course people want to know about the powers. Again, this is the sort of thing that we generally would have expected the studio to keep under wraps, but Andy Serkis has actually given us some juicy details about the titular villain’s abilities. According to the director, those tentacle-like appendages of his were a big draw. So we’ll hopefully see him using them in a number of creative ways (ahem, axe hand please). Where things get really interesting, however, is when Serkis talks about Carnage being able to turn into mist. The character has historically used the symbiote to shapeshift, but turning into “mist” isn’t something we’ve seen before. As for how it’ll look on screen, we’ll just have to wait and see!