Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

All MCU entry hype aside, Venom 2 just wasted She-Venom's character again in a much-marginalized role for love interest Anne Weying. Venom: Let There Be Carnage has enjoyed domestic box office domination in its opening weekend, with it estimated to gross anywhere from $71-80 million. While Venom 2, like its predecessor, continues to be dogged by a mixed critical reception, moviegoers have flocked in droves to see Tom Hardy reprise his role as conflicted symbiote host Eddie Brock.

Anne Weying's (Michelle Williams) transformation into She-Venom as she saves Brock from the S.W.A.T. team was one of the most-loved scenes in 2018's Venom. While the scene of Weying donning Venom's symbiotic skin was all too brief, longtime Marvel comic book readers were placated by the allusion that Anne bonding with Venom would potentially lead to far more screen time for She-Venom in Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

Related: Venom 2's Post-Credits Scene Changes Marvel Movies Forever

However, this reality did not come to pass, with Sony's Venom 2 casually wasting She-Venom's potential once again. Despite a significant portion of Venom: Let There Be Carnage's prerelease marketing hinting at a prolonged look at She-Venom, Weying's overall role in the film remains minimal. As with 2018's Venom, She-Venom's contribution in Venom 2 is reduced to a brief cameo as Brock's savior, prompting serious questions about when the Venom franchise will actually expand on her story canonically, or if it ever will at all.

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Michelle Williams as She-Venom in Venom

The seamless bonding of Weying and Venom, as well as Weying's ability to control the symbiote's murderous urges in the first Venom installment, suggested the beginnings of a fascinating relationship between the two characters. This, however, turned out to be little more than establishing Venom's willingness to bond with Anne, which was the only recurring She-Venom thread between the two current Venom films. In Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Anne bonds with Venom to break Eddie out of police custody before immediately relinquishing the symbiote back to Brock. This all too brief She-Venom cameo again smacks of wasted potential given the way Brock and Weying can seamlessly wield Venom's powers simultaneously in the original Venom Marvel comics. Venom 2's promotional posters ahead of the movie's release teased She-Venom, making her fleeting one-scene appearance all the more galling.

The rationale behind She-Venom's scarcity in Venom: Let There Be Carnage is puzzling at best. Venom 2's creative team was acutely aware of the impact She-Venom's cameo had in the first movie, with Michelle Williams going as far as stating she would love a standalone She-Venom project in the future. Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a short movie by recent superhero movie yardsticks, running at just 1.5 hours, which perhaps influenced the creative team's decision to focus almost entirely on Cletus Kasady/Carnage's rise and fall. The question of where She-Venom will next appear in the franchise is unclear, given Venom 2's post-credits scene transporting Venom and setting up a long-awaited MCU reunion with his longtime enemy: Spider-Man. While integrating Venom into the MCU proper will undoubtedly open up a swathe of new narrative options for the character, this should not be at the expense of an already maligned She-Venom, who deserves a much bigger role than the one she received in Venom 2.

Next: What Tom Hardy & Director Andy Serkis Have Said About Venom 3

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