During the mid-credits scene of Tom Hardy’s Venom, an interesting tease happened, and only comic fans would understand. An incarcerated Woody Harrelson is seen locked-up in prison, and he says when he gets out of prison “there’s gonna be carnage.”
It was an exciting moment, but why wasn’t he introduced earlier in the film, and why didn’t Carnage make an appearance? More than one viewer left the theater wondering why Sony didn’t just use Carnage as the main villain in the film.
In an interview with Collider, producer Matt Tolmach says that Carnage was once considered for the film, but setting up Cletus Kasady and Eddie Brock would fare too much for one film:
“You have two origins, and it really limits. We thought about it long and hard. It limits what you can do with the origin of Venom. So, what do you do with that? Well, then the movie itself becomes the origin of Venom, and then Carnage enters the equation. That was always the idea, that you would be setting it up, from the very beginning.”
This is a move that helped people to focus on Eddie Brock. The film was better for it, although seeing Venom go toe-to-toe with Carnage would have been a sight. He is clearly one of the symbiotes most-popular foes. This will save Carnage for the sequel, although some of the darker character elements will not make it into the film.
Carnage is a serial killer, and Venom 2 will get a PG-13 rating. Sony won’t change the rating to R for the sequel.
