Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the sequel to 2018's Venom solo movie, released its first trailer, which wisely avoids a mistake of its predecessor. While many iconic comic book characters date back to the earlier days of the medium, Venom, now regarded as arguably Spider-Man's signature foe, only dates back to the 1980s. He's a relatively recent invention, but that hasn't stopped him from forming a symbiotic relationship with the hearts of Spidey fans, even sometimes operating as an anti-hero.
It was that anti-hero version of Venom that Tom Hardy played in Sony's 2018 movie, which annoyed many by not being rated-R, but still managed to perform beyond all expectations. Reviews from critics weren't good, but fans of the character by and large enjoyed themselves, even if they didn't necessarily like all the changes the film made to Venom's backstory. Venom made an absolutely gargantuan amount of money, pulling in over $850 million, and putting itself in league with many MCU installments.
Naturally, Sony showed no hesitation in greenlighting a sequel to Venom, and that sequel is finally set to arrive this fall, following a nearly one-year delay due to the Coronavirus pandemic. While fan reactions to the first trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage have been mixed, it at least didn't falter in the same big way the first teaser trailer for Venom did.
Venom 2's First Trailer Smartly Highlighted Carnage
While there were moments fans liked and disliked about the first teaser trailer released for Venom in 2018, the general sentiment coming out of its debut leaned negative due to one major factor: lack of Venom. Not once in the teaser did fans actually get a good look at the titular character, and it left them with a bad taste in their mouths. It's understandable why Sony might want to hold off on offering the first look at Venom, and try to make it an event. However, the negative fan response illustrated that whatever their reasoning, it was ultimately a miscalculation.
Thankfully, the first trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage learned from Sony's previous mistake, providing fans with a nice, clean shot of new villain Carnage. Said shot is a bit dark, but it's still way more than fans saw of Venom in that film's teaser. It's always nice to see fan complaints taken to heart by studios, as too often the attitude of such companies is to ignore or reject the public's reactions. In this case, though, Sony realized they had blundered, and took steps with Venom 2 not to err in the same way twice.
