A good look at Carnage as he'll appear in Venom: Let There Be Carnage has been revealed. Bringing back Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock aka Venom, the sequel also stars Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady, the serial killer who becomes Venom's nemesis Carnage. Though we were briefly able to catch a peek at Carnage in the last teaser trailer, we have yet to get a really good look at the supervillain.
In China, select IMAX theaters have erected statues of Venom and Carnage for fans to take photographs with outside of the screening. Per TheVenomSite on Twitter, images of the statues have been shared to social media, giving us our best look yet at how Carnage will appear in the sequel. Many Marvel fans have been sharing the photos as they're stoked to see just how awesome Carnage looks, which is very close to how he also appears in the original comics.
A logline for Venom: Let There Be Carnage reads: "Over a year after the events of Venom, investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Hardy) struggles to adjust to life as the host of the alien symbiote Venom, which grants him super-human abilities in order to be a lethal vigilante. Brock attempts to reignite his career by interviewing serial killer Cletus Kasady (Harrelson), who becomes the host of the symbiote Carnage and escapes prison after a failed execution."
Andy Serkis directs Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Kelly Marcel wrote the screenplay based on a story by Marcel and Hardy. Along with Hardy and Harrelson, the movie stars Michelle Williams as Anne Weying, Naomie Harris as Shriek, Reid Scott as Dan Lewis, Stephen Graham as Mulligan, and Peggy Lu as Mrs. Chen. Sean Delaney and Larry Olubamiwo will also appear in undisclosed roles.
"He doesn't get a pen and write," screenwriter Marcel said of Hardy's involvement in the creative process. "We spent months breaking the story together on FaceTime, riffing on ideas, seeing what worked, seeing what didn't. Then I took everything we spoke about and holed up somewhere for three months quietly, knocking out a script... This is new for him, to get credit, but it's not new for him to be this involved. He's absolutely 100 percent committed to everything that he does."
Released in 2018, the original Venom was a surprise smash hit for Sony, scoring more than $856 million on a budget of around $100 million. Reviews were mixed, though most everyone appreciated Hardy's acting and his take on Eddie Brock. The movie's success has led to the creation of the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, which runs separately from Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe. Along with Venom 2, the other upcoming installments of Sony's shared Marvel universe include Morbius and Kraven the Hunter.
The Venom 2 trailer arrived in May. Venom: Let There Be Carnage is scheduled to be released in theaters in the UK on Sept. 15 followed by a theatrical release in the United States on Sept. 24. This follows multiple release date shifts due to last year's pandemic, as originally the sequel was scheduled to drop in October 2020. As it stands now, Venom 2 is one of this year's most anticipated releases, so chances are it's going to do big business this fall. The images of the Carnage statues were first posted by TheVenomSite on Twitter.