Not only do will we get to see Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock banter with his alien symbiote Venom, we will also see him fight Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady, AKA Carnage.
Who is Carnage?
View this post on Instagram
The human component of Carnage’s first host, Cletus Kasady, was designed by artist Erik Larsen, who modeled the character after the DC Comics supervillain the Joker. Kasady, who was captured after a murder spree, shared a cell with Brock. When Brock’s symbiote returned to bond with him (allowing Venom to escape prison), the symbiote unknowingly left its offspring in the cell; due to its alien instincts, the symbiote felt no emotional attachment to its offspring, regarding it as insignificant, and thus never communicated its existence to Brock via their telepathic link. The new symbiote then bonded with Kasady, transforming him into Carnage. The bond between the Carnage symbiote and Kasady was stronger than the bond between Brock and the Venom symbiote. As a result, Carnage is far more violent, powerful, and deadly than Venom. Now, while the design of Harrelson’s Carnage mirrors that of his comic book counterpart, his powers will be a little different in the movies. Instead of building on the premise that symbiotes get stronger with each host, the movie will be playing on the concept that the symbiotes reflect their host. In speaking with IGN, director Andy Serkis likened Brady/Brocks’ Venom to a quarterback – heavy on brute force and power while Harrelson/Kasady’s Carnage will be more psychologically manipulative. This reflects Kasady’s profile as a sadistic, deranged serial killer with violent tendencies.
“With all symbiotes, they reflect the person who is their host. So the darkness of Carnage, the playfulness, the wit, the strangeness because Cletus… has a real intelligence and in the way that he uses violence as a bizarre, twisted, crazy wit about what he does and he has a real sense of humor, and we wanted to reflect that in the symbiote that is linked to him.”
In the comics, the symbiote that forms Carnage was one that split from Brock’s Venom, which in turn came from the same symbiote that was once merged with Peter Parker. Given the fact that this present universe hasn’t seen the symbiote pair with Peter Parker (that we’ve seen), it seems like a logical take on the character.
Carnage was meant to appear during the 2018 movie, ‘Venom’. However, it was decided that creating a solid base for Eddie Brock and Venom was more important. Also, leaving out Venoms deadliest foe (literally, he ranks number one as Venom’s deadliest enemies) would give the team a direction for a sequel. Cletus Kasady does appear in the first movie, though, during a mid-credits scene.
View this post on Instagram
The two aren’t the only symbiotes in the movie, with Naomie Harris (‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, ‘Skyfall’, ‘Spectre’, ‘No Time to Die’) as Frances Barrison, Kasady’s love interest and the symbiote Shriek. Michelle Williams will return as Anne Weying, Eddie’s District Attorney ex-fiancée (and maybe, as She-Venom???) and Reid Scott as her current boyfriend, Dan Lewis. (Psst! Also making an appearance is martial artist, stuntwoman and actress Michelle Lee, who will be playing a Malaysian EMT who briefly hosts Riot!)
Fans who were hoping to catch a glimpse of a possible Spiderman/Venom combo won’t see it here, but maybe – just maybe – we’ll get a hint of ‘Maximum Carnage’ in the movie? Following multiple, COVID-19 related delays, ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ is set for release on Sept. 24, 2021.
*Cover image credits: @venommovie
Post comments (0)