Sony’s Spider-Man Universe continued its successful run with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which brought back old characters along with some new ones. The likes of Cletus Kasady, Carnage, and Shriek were the latest threats to Eddie Brock and Venom, with everyone relying on their intelligence to get the upper hand, in addition to their powers.
All things considered, every character had some moment where they could be considered smart in terms of strategy, the ability to use their skill at tactical points, and the way they perceived threats. This includes people like Anne, who didn’t have powers, and it’s interesting to see where everyone ranks when their intelligence is given a deeper look.
Dr. Camille Pazzo
Dr. Camille was the one who trapped Shriek at the institute for decades to conduct tests on her. While she considered herself smart, Dr. Camille really wasn’t too bright as she not only didn’t get any real results out of Shriek but mocked her to the point where it was obvious Shriek would target her after she got free.
Eventually, Dr. Camille was eliminated by Carnage who agreed to break Shriek out for Cletus Kasady. The doctor also didn’t have the foresight to realize that a potential escape by Shriek would wreak havoc on the public, making all her research a rather dumb idea.
Mrs. Chen
Mrs. Chen’s role was to be a friend for Venom and Eddie who also shared some light banter with the two. She didn’t have many scenes to show off her intelligent side, although Mrs. Chen’s not-so-bright moments were shown on occasion.
She didn’t realize her constant hints to expose Eddie and Venom’s partnership could result in her own demise as Venom offered to eat her if she became too much of a problem. Mrs. Chen nearly caused Eddie to be get locked up when she was too busy snarking at Anne to actually help her out to save Eddie from the police (even though Venom was "controlling" her).
Shriek
Shriek gets full points for being a threat since her powers directly affected Carnage and Venom, but she lacked in the intelligence department. She had decades to plan out an escape, yet could never figure anything out and had to rely on Cletus.
Moreover, Shriek wasn’t smart enough to see that her sonic powers were bringing Carnage’s wrath toward her and even repeated it a couple of times more until Carnage simply decided to kill her. Shriek did have a level of quick thinking as she managed to get the drop on Mulligan by anticipating his tactics.
Cletus Kasady
Cletus was more emotional than he was smart, as evidenced when he was naive enough to tell his secrets to Eddie without realizing the latter would betray him in his exposé. He had some cunning, though, as Cletus managed to convinced Venom to release Shriek by using their connection to his advantage.
Cletus had a good mind for strategy when he broke out of prison and into Shriek’s containment facility by making use of Carnage’s powers. His emotions ultimately took charge again when Cletus failed to see that Carnage would rather kill Shriek and Cletus couldn’t think of anything to dissuade him from doing so.
Venom
There were definitely some things about Venom that didn’t make sense, such as his logic of leaving Eddie without access to any other host. However, he was smarter than most due to the fact that he listened to people where he was supposed to.
Venom went along with Eddie’s plan of capitalizing on Carnage’s weakness to Shriek as well as Anne’s attempt to bond him and Eddie once again. He had a level of tact where personal relationships were concerned, as he perceived Eddie’s grief at losing Anne. Still, Venom never really did his own thinking, and he would have been lost without the influence of Eddie and Anne.
Dr. Dan
Dr. Dan came in late in the movie and quickly made his mark as a solid ally. Like Venom, he also needed the instructions of others but was smart enough to think on the fly. Dan quickly called in Venom and Eddie when Anne was abducted and placed himself in a vantage point to help out without being caught.
Dan capitalized on the symbiotes’ susceptibility to fire and doused Carnage from above the church with oil that he set alight. It showed Dan’s cunning, as he was out of reach and did solid damage. He still lacked a bit in independent thinking as Dan had to get Anne and Eddie to come up with the overall plan.
Anne Weying
Anne was the most likable character in Venom 2 and did pretty good in showing off her smarts as well. Her mind kicked in where reading the characters was concerned, as Anne instantly reconciled Eddie and Venom by finding common ground that the two hadn’t been able to in two years.
Anne wasn’t fooled in the slightest when Eddie tried to hide Venom from her and quickly let them know she’d deduced Venom’s presence. She was smart in her use of the law and broke Eddie out by sneaking Venom inside the interrogation room. Anne wasn’t the best when it came to using her intelligence in battle, though, as she was clueless in the final battle when the villains had her captured.
Eddie Brock
Frustrated a lot by the bad decisions Eddie made in regards to Venom, he came across as a loose cannon earlier on. However, Eddie has to be given credit for thinking in advance how to conceal Venom from the world successfully for two years.
He was also sly for making Cletus give up his victims’ location by convincing him he would write the exposé in his favor. Eddie’s smartest moment arrived when he figured out he and Venom had a stronger bond than Carnage and Cletus and devised the attack from Shriek to use the sonic weakness against the villains.
Carnage
The movie focused too much on Venom and Eddie’s friendship to give Carnage much screentime but the latter made full use when he finally showed up. Carnage was a highly intelligent symbiote who used the people around him to get what he wanted.
Carnage manipulated Cletus into being his host while having intentions to kill Shriek when they both outlived their usefulness. He also intelligently came up with the plan to ambush the heroes in the church and would have won, had Shriek not messed things up by using her powers when she wasn’t supposed to.
Mulligan
Mulligan was kept relatively low-key, yet he was basically right about every hunch he had. He survived Shriek’s attack as a new cop by targeting her eye and put an end to her threat back then. Mulligan also figured out Eddie was harboring Venom despite not even knowing what a symbiote is.
He was taken hostage by Shriek but used his quick thinking to give her a challenge in the climactic fight until the symbiotes’ conflict proved too powerful for him. Mulligan earlier realized Eddie would be in danger after Cletus’ escape and warned him, showing his abilities to anticipate situations.