The second installment in the Venom franchise proves to be an action-packed extravaganza that doubles down on humor, emotional stakes, and the chaotic yet endearing relationship between titular character Venom and his symbiotic host Eddie Brock. Director Andy Serkis holds nothing back on the mo-cap and CGI violence which provided an incredibly entertaining hour and a half of tentacle-slinging battles.
Viewers of Venom: Let There Be Carnage are in for a gripping ride, culminating towards the epic post-credit scene that everyone will be talking about for the foreseeable future (or at least until Marvel releases Eternals in November). We’re here to break down the ending and post-credit scene so if you haven’t seen the movie yet, either check it out on October 1st or check out our spoiler-free review here.
Spoiler Warning!
Venom 2 Ending Explained
Venom: Let There Be Carnage would not be complete without a character yelling verbatim, “Let there be carnage!” or a tease for the third movie in the installment and rest assured it contains both of those things.
Eddie Brock’s Venom and Cletus Kassady’s Carnage battle it out in a cathedral, with Venom gaining the advantage over Carnage similar to how Spider-Man rid himself of the Venom symbiote in the 90’s animated Spider-Man cartoon. The sonic vibrations of the church bell chimes cause Carnage and Kassady to separate, allowing Venom to eat Kassady’s head (a satisfying conclusion to Venom’s movie-long saga of searching for a Bad Guy Dinner).
Related: Spider-Man: 4 Cancelled Spidey Movies We Wish We Got
Along for the ride are Eddie’s ex-fiancée Anne, her new fiancé Dan, Cletus’s lover Shriek (Frances Barrison), and Grumpy-Cop-Who-Needs-A-Win Detective Mulligan. Cletus, Shriek, and Carnage each want revenge on Eddie, Mulligan, and Venom respectively. Eddie is ultimately the reason for the expedition of Kassady’s death sentence, and he chooses fame rather than being a “friend” to Cletus by exposing his hidden bodies instead of telling his life story. Mulligan is the cop responsible for shooting Frances in the head during her escape from St. Estes, robbing her of her eye. The Carnage symbiote, however, apparently just has Daddy issues.
The fight between Shriek and Detective Mulligan (seemingly) results in both of their deaths, with Shriek being crushed by the church bell and Mulligan being stabbed by Carnage. However, as the camera cuts away from him, his eyes glaze over similar to how Eddie and Cletus’s eyes do when their symbiotes bond to them, hinting at a new symbiote for the franchise’s third entry, and his turn into Toxin.
The movie closes with Eddie and Venom on an island beach somewhere chatting about the possibilities of what they’re going to do next. Their relationship is now the most symbiotic it’s ever been, and they discuss how they’ve come to understand each other. The audience gets its last laugh as Venom relays how much he enjoys the sand between his toes…
Post Credits Scene Explained
…Leading us to arguably the most impactful post-credits scene (technically mid-credits scene) we’ve ever seen. It begins with Eddie and Venom watching a telenovela in their island hotel room. The conversation shifts towards the depths of knowledge within the symbiote, having lived “80 billion light-years across universes”. Venom offers to give Eddie a brief taste of this information, joking that the full dose would explode his brain. As the exchange begins, the room twirls with a vast range of colors, similar to those seen in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
We have just seen Eddie and Venom transported into another hotel room in a completely new universe. The television screen now displays a J. Jonah Jameson featurette from the Daily Bugle, indicting Peter Parker as Spider-Man. The same featurette, that was displayed across Times Square at the end Spider-Man: Far From Home. Venom licks his tongue across the screen whispering, “That guy!”. This officially makes Venom and anything attached to it Marvel Cinematic Universe canon (we’re looking at you Morbius!). Whether or not it was specifically our Peter that Venom recognized, he certainly had an attachment to Spider-Man. Now that Venom has witnessed the MCU’s Peter Parker, it remains to be seen where he may appear next, but it’s probable he’ll appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home or Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.
For another in-depth review with spoilers, check out our upcoming Marvel podcast that will be dropping in October on all major podcast platforms!
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