Image via Sony
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Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the newest Marvel movie from Sony Pictures, is out now, exclusively in theaters. It made $90 million in its first weekend, and it got better reviews than its predecessor, which all but assures that we haven’t seen the last of Eddie Brock. In fact, if we’re interpreting the mid-credits sequence at the end of the film correctly, we might be seeing a whole lot more of him very soon—but more on that later.
The great thing about the Venom films—and what distinguishes them from the MCU films, at least for now—is that the thrill factor is first and foremost. This is not a load-bearing film, designed to set up four other films and referencing three past films. This is a movie that ‘goes for it,’ and pays off its best moments in the same movie where it sets them up.
It’s like in the comics when you get a massive splash across two pages. Sometimes, it’s good to cut loose and not worry about the bigger picture. No matter where the Venom franchise goes from here, there should always be room for superhero films like this one. Not every one of these has to be weighty and consequential; fun for its own sake has its place.
Here are 18 Easter eggs in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, along with a breakdown of that mid-credits scene, which may actually be bigger news than the movie itself.
2.St. Estes Home for Boys
In the comics, a young, orphaned Cletus Cassady / Carnage stayed at the St. Estes Home for Boys, where he was abused by the older wards. He eventually burned the home down, and it becomes the site of a major battle during the Maximum Carnage arc.
In the movie, the name of the orphanage has been updated to St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children, and both Carnage and Shriek spent their childhoods there. As adults, they burn down St. Estes together.
3.Ravencroft Institute
In the comics, the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane is where both Cletus Kassady and Frances Barrison are imprisoned; a doctor tries to take Kassady’s blood and inadvertently releases Carnage, who kills the staff and frees both himself and Barrison.
In the movie, Barrison was transferred from St. Estes to Ravencroft as a youth, so that researchers could study and control her powers. Kassady breaks her out of Ravencroft after escaping from prison.
4.The new Toxin?
In the comics, the police detective character, Pat Mulligan, eventually becomes the host of the Toxin symbiote, which is the offspring of the Carnage symbiote. Mulligan’s eyes glow blue at the very end of this movie, suggesting that something otherworldly is afoot.
5.Shriek's left eye
Shriek has a damaged left eye; Mulligan shot her during her transfer from St. Estes to Ravencroft. when she attempted to escape.
In the comics, Shriek’s left eye has a trademark diamond design around it, and it glows when she uses her psychic powers—specifically, when she turns it on the NYC populace and incites them to riot.
6.Ducati bikes
Eddie Brock’s motorcycle is a Ducati Panigale. It is a racing bike and an upgrade from his Ducati Scrambler from the first film.
7.Bite and Blood
In the comics, Cletus receives the Carnage symbiote after sharing a prison cell with Eddie. In the movie, Cletus receives the Carnage symbiote after biting Eddie’s fingers, drawing blood.
8.A mutant?
The unexplained way that Shriek acquired her powers, and the way it’s framed as something potentially dangerous and worthy of study, is very reminiscent of the way that young mutants are treated in the X-Men storylines. Perhaps Sony is laying the groundwork for additional crossovers down the line.
9.Something Wicked This Way Comes
In the comics, a Ravencroft doctor inadvertently unleashes Carnage by drawing a blood sample from Cletus. In the movie, the prison doctor advertently unleashes Carnage by administering a lethal injection to Cletus during a failed execution.
During his transformation, Cletus yells, “Something wicked this way comes!” This is a line spoken by the Second Witch in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, during Act IV, Scene 1:
“By the pricking of my thumbs
Something wicked this way comes.”
10.Stan Lee cameo
Marvel and comic book legend Stan Lee may no longer be with us, but he still manages to make a cameo of sorts. He’s on the cover of a magazine in Mrs. Chen’s store, and the Venom symbiote considers taking a copy.
11.Beverly Hills Cop
Eddie’s Detroit Lions jacket and grey undershirt combo is a direct reference to Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop. The year of that movie’s release, 1984, is the same year that the Venom symbiote made its debut as Spider-Man’s alien suit. Venom wouldn’t bond to Eddie Brock until 1988.
12.Daily Bugle exclusive
We see that Eddie Brock works for the Daily Bugle, as he does in both the comics and in the Sam Raimi films. In those continuities, the Bugle is the catalyst for a professional feud between Peter Parker and Eddie Brock, which eventually spills over into the Spider-Man and Venom rivalry.
13.Silence of the Lambs
The glass barriers and rock walls of Shriek’s Ravencroft cell are reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter’s underground holding cell in The Silence of the Lambs. Like Hannibal, Shriek enjoys tormenting the guards who bring her dinner.
14.Wanted: Artist
We see a wanted poster for “E. Larson” on the wall of Mulligan’s office. Erik Larsen was a notable Spider-Man and Venom artist during the ’90s and is famous for giving Venom his long symbiotic tongue.
15.Vulnerability to sound
Just as they are in the comics, the symbiotes in the movie are vulnerable to sound waves. Sound waves form a significant plot point in the Maximum Carnage comic arc; Spider-Man takes a sonic gun from the Fantastic 4’s headquarters to use as a weapon on Carnage. In the new movie, the clanging of the church bells affects the climactic Venom vs. Carnage fight, significantly weakening both participants.
16.Little Simz cameo
There’s a cameo by British-Nigerian rapper Little Simz in the Venom club scene, where we also hear a remix of her “Venom” track.
17.She-Venom
We get another appearance in this movie from She-Venom, when the symbiote briefly takes over Anne Weying’s body. In the comics, Anne cannot bear the gruesome acts she committed while bonded to the symbiote, and she eventually kills herself by jumping off a building.
18.Lethal Protectors
The Venom symbiote refers to himself and Eddie as lethal protectors. This is a direct reference to the Lethal Protector comic arc from 1993, in which Eddie Brock forms a truce with Spider-Man and moves to San Francisco, establishing himself as an anti-hero. The moniker was later reappropriated as Lethal Protectors under the Marvel comic crossover Absolute Carnage.
19.Last One Standing
The song that plays over the end credits is Skylar Grey’s “Last One Standing” featuring Polo G, Mozzy, and Eminem. Eminem is no stranger to superhero soundtracks; his song “Venom” played over the first movie’s end credits as well.
20.That Mid-Credits Scene
In the movie’s mid-credits scene, Eddie Brock and the Venom Symbiote are lying in a bed in a rundown motel room. The Symbiote offers to give Eddie a taste of the knowledge and experience he acquired across multiple universes. Then, the scene suddenly switches: the motel room becomes a luxury suite. The symbiote is surprised and insists it didn’t do anything.
Then, Eddie looks at the television, and he sees J. Jonah Jameson discussing Peter Parker / Spider-Man on TV. It is clearly the MCU’s version of Spider-Man performed by Tom Holland.
The ramifications for this are huge. Venom and Spider-Man now exist in the same universe. At the very least, this means that Spider-Man and Venom will meet on the big screen at some point.
Assuming this scene is a reference to the MCU multiverse, which was put into motion during the events of Disney+ series Loki, we might see Venom in Spider-Man: No Way Home, either as the final member of the Sinister Six, or more likely as an uneasy ally of Spider-Man’s.
Or, since Sony owns the rights to Spider-Man and is only lending him out to Disney, it’s possible that we won’t see Spidey and Venom together until the third Venom movie. Thus, Holland’s Spider-Man will be a part of both cinematic universes—or, by the end of No Way Home, he will move from the MCU to the Universe that Sony is currently establishing.
Either way, this also opens the door for all past Marvel superhero films to be tangentially connected to the MCU. The Tobey Maguire / Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies? The Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies? The X-Men movies produced by 20th Century Fox? They’re all fair game under these new parameters. We’ve already seen that Green Goblin and Dr, Octopus, two villains from the Raimi movies, have crossed over into No Way Home, as evidenced by the teaser trailer. The possibilities for additional, future crossovers boggle the mind.