The Venom: Let Their Be Carnage trailer has revealed the host of another prominent Marvel symbiote – Toxin. A sequel to 2018’s Venom, the new film will see Tom Hardy reprise his role as Eddie Brock in a battle against the popular Marvel Comics villain Carnage, played by Woody Harrelson. Venom 2 is scheduled for release on September 24, 2021, marking the second entry in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, which will continue in 2022 with the premiere of Morbius.
While Venom is certainly the most famous symbiote in the Marvel universe, he’s far from the only one. Other symbiote characters have featured in various comics stories through the years, such as Carnage, Riot (who was played by Riz Ahmed in the first Venom film), and Knull, recently introduced in Marvel’s wildly popular King in Black event, who is the god and creator of the symbiotes. Sony has already introduced a number of these characters in its new film universe, with more likely to appear down the line.
Thanks to Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis, another Marvel symbiote host has been revealed in the film’s trailer. As part of a trailer breakdown for IGN, Serkis noted that the police officer shown in a few scenes, played by Stephen Graham, is named Mulligan. In the comics, a policeman named Patrick Mulligan becomes the first host of the symbiote Toxin, which is spawned by Carnage. That means that Toxin is likely being set up for a future film appearance in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.
In the comics, Toxin is even stronger than Carnage, possessing his predecessor’s abilities with even greater strength. Toxin even bonds with Eddie Brock for a time in the comics, so he would be particularly interesting to see in future Venom movies. It appears that Sony is setting up some long-term franchise plotlines in Venom 2, which will hopefully pan out in exciting ways.
Of course, Sony’s new franchise still has a lot to prove. Venom did well at the box office, but it was reviewed very poorly. The studio has big plans for its own cinematic universe of the Marvel characters it’s retained the rights to, including a Kraven the Hunter movie and a TV series for Silk. That means the next couple films have a lot riding on them. So far, though, Venom: Let There Be Carnage looks like a promising follow-up that could improve on the original in significant ways.
Source: IGN
