Venom: Let There Be Carnageaims to continue the character’s separation process fromSpider-Man, an almost symbiotic relationship much like the one Eddie Brock has with his alien visitor. That trend will continue asVenom’s sequel director Andy Serkis confirmed the film takes place in a world separated from the MCU’s Peter Parker.
The firstVenommovie was not especially well-received back in 2018, although Tom Hardy’s role as Eddie Brock was enough to convince producers to make a sequel for Marvel anti-hero. This time around, they brought in the talented Serkis, a man mostly known for his brilliant motion capture work inThe Lord of the Ringfranchisebut who’s started adding a couple of directing credentials under his belt too withMowgli: Legend of the Jungle.
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WithVenom: Let There Be Carnage’s trailerhaving just premiered, Serkis sat down with IGN to discuss some of the easter eggs that can be found in the preview, as well as some of his thoughts on the kind of story he wants to tell. With this in mind, Serkis made clear that this iteration ofVenomremains completely detached from the MCU’sSpider-Man, because “theVenomstory is his own world” and Brock is completely unaware of the web-swinging New Yorker.
To further elaborate on Serkis’s comments, he’s not completely ruling out some type of connection betweenthe MCU’s Spider-Manand Venom forming, it’s just that it won’t be happening in this movie, thus dispelling any cameo rumors out there. That, of course, doesn’t mean the film will lack certain Marvel orSpider-Manreferences here and there, but these will primarily come in the form of easter eggs.
Serkis has been pretty vocal about his excitement to directLet There be Carnage, clearly looking to make the best of the comical interactions between Eddie Brock and Venom, while also looking to introduce great villains that can fixthe many shortcomings in the firstVenommovie. With an absolute psychopathic villain like Carnage and his host Cletus Kasady, plus the emotional complexity of a character like Shriek,Venom: Let There be Carnagedefinitely promises a new type of antagonist for Marvel.
One of the key aspects that could point to the creative direction Serkis took is whetherLet There be Carnagesticks to the PG-13 rating of the first movie or if it opts to scale its gruesome violence to higher levels. With the success of Joaquin Phoenix’sJoker, at least it’s been proven that an R rating is no obstacle for enviable commercial success.
Venom: Let There Be Carnageis scheduled to be released in theaters on July 16, 2025.
