Comic Book movies and TV shows are still going strong right now, with Sony-Marvel’s Venom: The Last Dance opening in theaters, while DC’s Batman spinoff The Penguin is earning major acclaim on HBO. Most superhero fans would agree that Venom 3 and The Penguin couldn’t be more different in terms of tone and subject matter; however, they do share something in common: breakout performances by lead actors (Tom Hardy and Colin Farrell, respectively), which are the heart of both franchises.

There’s also a dark weird connection between Venom: The Last Dance and The Penguin – specifically Episode 6, which aired during Venom 3‘s opening weekend:

Did You Spot The Same Actor In Venom 3 & The Penguin?

Actor Jared Abrahamson had quite a week for an aspiring actor: he played a bit role in Venom: The Last Dance as Captain Forrest, a member of Imperium; he also had a recurring role in The Penguin as “Squid,” a local shot-caller and drug dealer operating in the slums neighborhood of Crown Point.

Abrahamson was much more of a background character as Cpt. Forrest in Venom 3: he appeared in scenes as a right-hand-man to Imperium military commander General Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor); however, in the film’s third act, the symbiote god Knull sends his Xenophage monsters to attack Imperium’s base at Area 51 resulting in the death or retreat of nearly ever Imperium team member. Forrest’s fate is unknown after the film (though is wiki lists him as “alive”).

RELATED: The Penguin Just Turned One Major Character Into A True Villain

The Penguin gave Jared Abrahamson a much bigger spotlight in Episode 6: his story arc with Penguin’s sidekick Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) came to a head when Squid finally leaned on Victor to set him up with an introduction to Penguin. When Squid goes so far as to threaten Victor with snitching to the cops or rival gangs, Victor takes the drastic step of shooting him in the neck. Abrahamson got a bloody death scene as he bleeds out in an alley – but it’s a performance that will definitely spice up his highlight reel! Not to mention the rush that Abrahamson is probably enjoying right now, having two high-profile projects out simultaneously.

Jared Abrahamson has previously appeared in the indie comedy On the Count of Three (starring Jarrod Carmichael and Christopher Abbott); episode arcs in the Hulu series Letterkenny and Ramy, and Apple TV+’s The Changeling. He is probably best known for starring in Netflix’s time-travel sci-f-drama-mystery series Travelers (2016-2018).

You can also catch him in Venom: The Last Dance (now in theaters) or in The Penguin (airing on HBO and streaming on Max).

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Venom: The Last Dance have gotten an unexpected crossover. October brought some of the biggest entertainment releases of the year with Joker 2, Terrifier 3, and Silent Hill 2 remake. Last week, two major anticipated releases dropped on the same day: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Venom: The Last Dance. The two giants are expected to be pretty big commercial successes with Call of Duty hitting record high player counts on Steam alone and Venom: The Last Dance bringing in a whopping $178 million in its first 5 days. It’s been hard to avoid ads for the two products for the last month or so, as they have major partnerships with big brands and an extensive marketing campaign across social media.

Venom has been roasting random Twitter users and also appearing in things like Hot Ones, fully embracing the absurdity of this incarnation of the Spider-Man villain. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 chose to bring back Peter Stormare as “The Replacer”, a mysterious suit-wearing man who will “replace” people at their jobs or other responsibilities so they can play Call of Duty. Both marketing campaigns have made waves across social media and people are enjoying it, so naturally, they have joined forces.

A new ad was released earlier today that sees Call of Duty’s The Replacer standing in a parking lot, revealing he’s on a special assignment. He notes that Eddie Brock is too busy playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and he has to keep Venom company. Naturally, Venom is talking in his ear the whole time before The Replacer ultimately transforms into the gooey monster. It’s absolutely ridiculous, but a fun way to keep both marketing campaigns going following their respective launches. Whether it will amount to anything more than this short little ad remains to be seen, but fans are already calling for a Venom skin in Black Ops 6.

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Fortnite brought back the Venom skins a few days ago, much to the joy of its fans. However, Fortnite is a bit more family friendly and has a great history with Marvel. It’s unclear if Marvel would pursue putting a character from a PG-13 movie in an M-rated video game. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but it is something that Marvel may not be interested in since it already supports another big shooter. There may be more room for a crossover with something like Kraven the Hunter, an R-rated film based on another Spider-Man villain. However, we’ll probably have to wait until the film releases in December to know if something like that is going to happen.

Nevertheless, it’s great to see two giant products that have absolutely nothing to do with each other joining forces to release a fun little ad. Whether or not it really moves anyone to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 or see Venom: The Last Dance is up in the air, but it’s still something fans can get a chuckle out of.

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Venom: The Last Dance introduced Marvel’s god of the symbiotes, Knull, into Sony’s Spider-Man Universe franchise – but is that as far as the villain’s reach goes? Marvel fans know that Knull is a “big bad” in the biggest sense – a character that was teased in years of Venom comic storylines before finally escaping his prison and launching a massive symbiote invasion of Earth, which required the combined efforts of Marvel’s earthbound and cosmic heroes to defeat. With that kind of precedence, fans wonder if the onscreen version of Knull will be a similar threat – not only to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe but to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well.

Does Knull Already Know About the MCU?

In Venom: The Last Dance it’s established that there is a connection between Knull and all of his symbiote “children,” to the point that the symbiote and Eddie Brock can’t access their full Venom form, lest they immediately signal their position to Knull. That detail could be key to (finally) connecting the Venom franchise with the MCU.

When Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home were both released in 2021, they set up an exciting story arc that saw Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy) transported from the SSU to the MCU. Unfortunately, nothing really came of that reality-hopping event: Venom never showed up for the fight in No Way Home, and got snatched back to his home universe in The Last Dance. However, the post-credits scene of No Way Home made it clear that Venom left a little piece of himself behind on Earth-616, teeing up the MCU to have its own symbiote saga. If Knull is connected to all symbiotes, he presumably can sense the piece of Venom that exists in another reality – especially if that small bit of symbiote residue eventually bonds with a host and becomes a whole new Venom. Once that happens, Knull will have a roadmap across realities, to the MCU.

Will Spider-Man 4 Feature Knull?

The theory that Knull could be headed for the MCU has only been exacerbated by the recent news about Spider-Man 4:

We now know that Spider-Man 4 will be released in July of 2026, after Avengers: Doomsday (May 2026) but before Avengers: Secret Wars (May 2027). That has raised serious questions about how Tom Holland’s Peter Parker will react to seeing a Doctor Doom variant of his mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), and what kind of peril he’ll find himself in.

Based on Marvel’s history of Secret Wars stories, it’s a safe bet that Avengers: Doomsday will feature an event that finally fractures the Marvel Multiverse, with Doom having the mix of science and sorcery required to pull together a “Battleworld,” i.e. a Frankenstein mix of fragments from different realities, all mashed together as the last bastion of existence. It’s been a popular theory that the MCU heroes who survive Doomsday will be stranded in that Battleworld arena, where they will have to find each other and re-assemble, to reboot the multiverse (or the sacred timeline of the MCU) and soft-reboot the franchise with a new collection of characters.

That leaves Spider-Man 4 as the only currently confirmed MCU project that could be set in the Battleworld reality. If that’s the case, the realities of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and the MCU could finally overlap – meaning that Knull, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and the Venom symbiote could all end up in the same film, without needing to do a whole lot of explaining.

These Marvel movie franchises – Marvel Studios, Sony, Fox-Marvel – have become too convoluted for most fans to follow – and yet, the end of the Marvel Multiverse Saga may let them all combine their strengths. Sony has a promising big bad, but no marquee character to battle him; Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise is looking for a blockbuster-sized villain to take on in his next film while offering fans the novelty of something like a black-suit-Spider-Man story in the MCU. Don’t be surprised to see it happen.

Venom: The Last Dance in now in theaters.

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The Venom films have not exactly been critical darlings, but the billion-dollar franchise managed to succeed largely due to how appealing audiences found them. With Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy and company are going out on something of a low note, at least according to one meaningful metric: the movie earned a B- CinemaScore, the lowest of the franchise, likely indicating that Venom 3 will not have the kind of word-of-mouth that drove the first one to become an instant cult classic.

When they were released in theaters, both Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage got a B+. At the time, Let There Be Carnage was seen as overachieving a bit, since the more violent a movie is, the more members of the audience may be turned off. That might not hurt as much on Rotten Tomatoes, where the reviews tend to be written hours or days later, but CinemaScore polls people right outside the theater. Instead of thinking holistically about what a good time you had, you might be thinking about that one image you really want to get out of your head. Venom 3 may have failed to clear the bar that Carnage did, because it really pushed its PG-13 as far as it will go.

That’s at odds with the PopcornMeter over on Rotten Tomatoes, where the audience score is 80% positive — the same as the first Venom. That ties it for second, since Venom: Let There Be Carnage scored 84%. That movie hasn’t aged as well as the first, with many fans now calling it the worst of the three, but it benefited from the first movie’s cult-camp status, and earned a whopping 57% positive reviews from critics (Venom only got 30%, and The Last Dance got 37%).

Venom managed to deliver a hit series for Sony in spite of the fact that Sony spent the last handful of years trying and failing to launch other Spider-Man-adjacent franchises like Morbius and Madame Web. Venom: The Last Dance — which Hardy has said will be his last ride with the symbiote — came out in theaters this weekend and grossed $51 million at the domestic box office, a franchise low.

Hardy’s Venom won’t be the last big-screen take on the character, of course; Venom originated as a Spider-Man villain, and as recently as Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Marvel Cinematic Universe teased the possibility of introducing symbiotes to the main-line universe. Some rumors peg Venom as the villain (or one of the villains) of Spider-Man 4, which was recently confirmed to be headed for production soon.

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Tom Hardy has famously been in favor of an R-rated Venom movie ever since the franchise launched. The star, who played Eddie Brock/Venom in the films, managed to deliver a hit series for Sony in spite of the fact that not only did they never go all-in on the violence and mayhem…but they’ve also spent those years trying and failing to launch other Spider-Man-adjacent franchises with both Morbius and Madame Web. The third and final installment in Hardy’s franchise — which the actor has said will be his last ride with the symbiote — came out in theaters this weekend and grossed $51 million at the domestic box office, a franchise low.

Inevitably, there will be fans and critics who point to the movie’s PG-13 rating as a source for consternation, and there are plenty of reasons for that. Ignoring the fact that Hardy himself has always wanted an R-rated Venom that leans a bit more into the horror inherent to the antihero, there are some other factors, too.

The year’s highest-grossing movie is Deadpool & Wolverine, the third installment in what is presumed to be a trilogy for Ryan Reynolds’s take on the Merc With a Mouth. Whether that movie would be rated R was actually kind of up-in-the-air (at least in the fans’ imaginations) for a while, because it’s the first Deadpool movie made since Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Ultimately, according to both Reynolds and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, there was never any serious consideration given to a PG-13 Deadpool movie.

Still, there was reason to question it. Marvel Studios proper had never released an R-rated superhero movie before, and the last Fox/Marvel joint that was rated R came in the form of Logan in 2017. The oft-delayed New Mutants was, at one point, rumored to be a lot more horror-tinged, and reportedly there was a cut at one point that likely would have drawn an R rating. 20th Century Studios wasn’t into it, though, and made sure it came out as a PG-13 film.

Cycling back a moment — Logan. That movie, like Venom: The Last Dance, was the third installment in a trilogy, where the previous two installments had both been rated PG-13. Logan earned around $615 million at the global box office, easily becoming the highest-grossing installment in the trilogy. It was the only Wolverine solo movie to earn more than $200 million at the domestic box office, and the only one to make over $500 million worldwide.

Certainly, Logan feels like the clearest example to go by — although the similarities are kind of limited. Logan earned $600 million and an Oscar nomination — but in doing so, it still underperformed both of the first Venom movie, which actually made $856 million worldwide. Granted, Venom: Let There Be Carnage did significantly worse at the international box office…but that movie also opened huge in the U.S. and then went on to gross almost exactly as much at the domestic box office as Venom did.

And here’s the thing: both fan and critical reviews of Venom: Let There Be Carnage have pointed out that the movie stretches its PG-13 as far as it will go. It’s difficult to judge whether an R-rating would significantly change the movie’s box office prospects…but it doesn’t feel like it would have changed much about the movie itself.

With poor reviews and a franchise-low B- CinemaScore from moviegoers, it feels like it would have taken real, material changes — not just a couple more brains and a slobbering, maniac version of Venom — to have materially changed the movie’s box office prospects.

That said…should the have done it anyway? Forget the financial side, should they have gone all the way to an R rating just because that’s what Tom Hardy (and many of the franchise’s most vocal fans) wanted?

Well, your mileage may vary on that. It doesn’t seem like an R rating would have changed much about the movie’s story, execution, of box office draw. So, should they have done it just for the benefit of a handful of people who would have loved it?

Maybe.

Venom isn’t Deadpool, but it has also never been a normal superhero franchise. The first movie surprised everyone by being shockingly entertaining and incredibly weird and silly. Hardy knew exactly what kind of movie he was in, and it was that aspect — the weird, campy, wild energy — that made the Venom movies so beloved.

If an R rating could have helped them go one step farther in its final outing, embracing the weird and wild in a way they hadn’t before, that could have been pretty interesting. Maybe word-of-mouth would have boosted the box office beyond the first week.

Should Venom: The Last Dance have been an R-rated movie? Sound off on social media and tag @comicbook to let us know your thoughts. Or if you haven’t seen it yet, go catch Venom: The Last Dance while it’s still in theaters.

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What has been billed as the final entry in Sony’s Tom Hardy-starring Venom film series hasn’t been expected to live up to the lofty box office expectations of the rest of the franchise. Venom: The Last Dance was projected to deliver a significantly lower opening than the previous Venom entries, with the pre-release numbers suggesting it would pull in around $65 million domestically this weekend. The Last Dance actually opened much lower than that here in North America, but it got an unexpected boost overseas that makes its opening haul a lot more respectable.

Venom: The Last Dance brought in just $51 million domestically this weekend, which is well below the $80 million and $90 million opening weekend totals of its predecessors. While that is certainly disappointing for Sony, international audiences showed up to save the day.

Sony’s new Venom film received a $124 million opening from 64 international markets, which combines with the domestic total for a $175 million global opening. For a movie that carries a reported budget just over $100 million, that international boost goes a long way toward making it another profitable Venom outing for Sony.

Maybe the biggest surprise of Venom‘s opening weekend is the massive success the film has had in China. The Last Dance earned $46 million over its five-day opening in China, which is good enough to make it the biggest Hollywood opening in the country all year. It’s also the biggest superhero movie opening in China since Spider-Man: Far From Home back in 2019.

Only Disney’s Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine have had better international openings in 2024, which makes Venom: The Last Dance an instant overseas success. That definitely makes up for the weak domestic opening, that could’ve been disastrous for Sony’s Symbiote franchise.

While Tom Hardy seems content to walk away from Venom after completing the trilogy, the events of the film make it clear that Sony has plans to continue playing in the Venom/Symbiote sandbox. Knull has been set up as a potentially major villain for future films, while other major Symbiotes were introduced and teased for additional stories down the line.

Had the global opening for Venom: The Last Dance followed the trend of its domestic opening, Sony might have had to abandon those plans. With this massive international success, though, the studio clearly sees that there is life left in the world of Venom and Knull.

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Venom: The Last Dance is now in theaters, and as the final film in the trilogy, expectations were high. The reviews have been mixed overall for the film, and now the latest box office report doesn’t have especially great news either. Variety is reporting that The Last Dance brought in $22 million from 4,131 theaters stateside on Friday and through previews, which is considerably down from the first day debuts of the previous two films. This also puts it on pace to come up short in initial first weekend projections.

Those projections had The Last Dance bringing in $65 million over the weekend, but if the lower trend continues, that might not happen. For comparison, the original Venom film in 2018 hit $32 million on its first day, while 2021’s Let There Be Carnage brought in the highest amount of the trilogy with $37 million.

Continuing that comparison, the original Venom would go on to bring in over $80 million over its launch weekend, and would ultimately total over $856 million worldwide at the box office at the end of its theatrical run. Let There Be Carnage would best the opening weekend total of the original, bringing in over $90 million, but it wouldn’t hit the previous bar for total box office, as it ended its run with a worldwide total of over $506 million.

As for where this leaves The Last Dance, unless it ends up with long legs at theaters, it could end up falling below both the original film and its sequel in both the initial weekend and the total box office total. It has a chance to surpass Let There Be Carnage if the international audience really turns out like it did for both previous movies, but it would have to retain quite a bit of interest from week to week, and there are more movies on the way to take up attention.

It’s not all bad news though, as The Last Dance is still the biggest domestic opening since Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and it carries a lower blockbuster budget at $120 million. Right now the film has a B- Cinemascore, which isn’t bad at all, though it is down from the first two movies and their B+ score.

Joining Venom: The Last Dance in the top three are Smile 2, which moves into second place in its second week. Smile 2 looks to bring in $10.3 million in its second week, which would be a 55% fall from its opening last week, and if projections land, it would cross the $40 million mark after the weekend is done. At third place is Conclave, which earned $2.5 million from 1,753 theaters on its first day at theaters. It holds s B+ Cinemascore.

There’s also the much talked bout Terrifier 3,which has brought in $4.5 million so far in its third weekend. If predictions hold, it will clear $44 million through the weekend, which will impressively triple the totals of both Terrifier and Terrifier 2.

Where do you think Venom: The Last Dance will land at the end of its opening weekend? You can talk all things movies and marvel with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

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With the theatrical debut of Venom: The Last Dance this weekend, Sony’s Tom Hardy-starring Marvel franchise has officially reached the trilogy threshold. This new movie is the third in the series and, as the film’s title indicates, this has felt like it could be the end for Eddie Brock and his Symbiote pal. Now that the movie is out in the wild, and fans have had a chance to see what happens in The Last Dance, does it still feel like the end? Does Sony’s latest tie a nice bow around everything or use it as a launching pad for more movies?

Well, things aren’t quite that simple, as Venom: The Last Dance tries to do a little bit of both. WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Venom: The Last Dance! Continue reading at your own risk…

There are two ways to look at the ending of Venom: The Last Dance: you’ve got the story of Eddie and Venom, and then you’ve got the bigger story of Symbiotes in Sony’s Marvel universe.

Based on how successful the Venom films have been, and the fact that Sony wants to hang on to the rights of their Marvel characters, there are probably going to be more Venom movies. Venom: The Last Dance clearly sets the stage for a future with this franchise, that future just doesn’t seem like it will include Tom Hardy.

At the end of The Last Dance, Venom separates from Eddie in order to sacrifice themselves and save Earth from the hounds of Knull. Without Venom still in his head, Eddie finally makes his way back to New York City. His name has been cleared and he gets a chance to start over as a regular guy, but it’s clear he misses his symbiotic pal.

Outside of some crazy circumstance that brings him back in a future movie, this version of Eddie is done being the Lethal Protector. The other Symbiotes, however, are just getting started.

The Last Dance introduces the villain known as Knull, the creator of the Symbiotes. Knull has been looking for ways to get out of the prison the Symbiotes put him in, and the post-credits scene makes it seem as though he will be doing just that. So off the bat you’ve got a massive character in Knull, who The Last Dance writer/director Kelly Marcel has already said is planned to be more than just a one-movie villain.

In addition to Knull, there are a couple of other Symbiote-related situations at the end of The Last Dance that could lead to more movies. While nearly every Symbiote being held at Area 51 is killed in the film’s final fight, one of them gets away. Agony takes up residence in the body of scientist Dr. Payne, and there’s no indication that the Symbiote leaves their new host when they escape Area 51. So there’s a well-known Symbiote still out and about in that world.

Then there’s the final post-credits scene. As the bartender from the beginning of the movie emerges from an underground cave and escapes the rubble of Area 51, we see one of the vials that the Symbiotes were kept in. There’s still a trace of one of the Symbiotes left behind in that vial and it begins to react as a cockroach approaches the shattered container.

It isn’t explicitly clear which Symbiote was in the container, but the inclusion of the bartender in the scene seems to indicate that it was actually a piece of the Symbiote we know as Venom. A trace of that Symbiote was left behind at the bar at the beginning of the film, only to be taken to Area 51 to be studied.

It’s all very wide-open at this point when it comes to Sony’s Marvel future. Tom Hardy doesn’t seem interested in starring in another Venom feature, but there are plenty of other ways for the studio to keep the franchise moving forward.

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Venom 3, AKA Venom: The Last Dance, just hit theaters, which means that it’s also time to pre-order a physical copy! While it’s true you can pre-order this movie in whatever quality your heart desires, the best and probably coolest option is still the Limited Edition Steelbook on 4K Blu-ray (Amazon) which, if you’re a fan of this trilogy, you know is also available for the first and second movies. Once again, the cover art is fantastic.

The standard 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD editions of Venom: The Last Dance are also available here on Amazon. Note that Walmart has these items in stock as well, along with a digital edition that will come with a limited edition action figure that has yet to be revealed. Naturally, a release date and special features are also unknown at the moment, but this article will be updated with that information when it becomes available. We also expect the prices to drop significantly in the coming weeks. Pre-order customers on Amazon will automatically get the discount.

As noted, The Venom and the Venom: Let There Be Carnage Steelbooks also have some fantastic artwork, and are currently available as limited edition reprints via the links below.

• Venom: The Last Dance – 4K UHD Combo + Digital + Steelbook
• Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Limited Edition Steelbook) [4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital] / $22.39
• Venom (Limited Edition Steelbook) [4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital] / $22.39

An official description of the film reads, “ Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.” With that description, we anticipate a final act that will bring the trilogy to a close. 

While the box office for the final Venom movie hasn’t been all that thrilling so far, fans of the first two will still enjoy the finale, especially if they’re ready to have a wild entertaining night with Venom and Eddie. 

Venom: The Last Dance is “a whacky buddy road trip that stretches its PG-13 rating as far as it will possibly go,” ComicBook’s Chris Killian tweeted following the Monday night premiere in New York City. “Simply put – Venom 3 is classic guilty pleasure cinema. Turn your brains off and let Venom snack on ‘em.”

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Venom: The Last Dance opened with around $8.5 million at the box office in its Thursday night previews. That’s $1.5 million less than Venom earned in 2018 and $3.1 million less than Venom: Let There Be Carnage made in the same period. Analysts are predicting the movie will earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $60-70 million at the domestic box office and around $180 million worldwide. The bad news? That’s significantly lower than Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which opened with $90 million at the domestic box office (even though it was 2021 and a bunch of theaters had not yet reopened from the pandemic).

The good news? Venom: The Last Dance has a pretty manageable budget by superhero standards — reported to be around $100 million — so it will break even pretty quickly. For context, the movie cost half of what Joker: Folie a Deux did, and that movie made just $37.8 million in its opening frame.

The degree to which Venom: The Last Dance will be a hit will likely depend on its longevity (which of course is tied closely to fan reactions). The first movie had a heavy dose of skepticism from audiences, but after its first weekend, it held on pretty strong due to good worth-of-mouth and ended up making over $850 million worldwide. That’s more than Man of Steel, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, or Deadpool 2.

By contrast, Venom: Let There Be Carnage had a huge opening weekend in part due to how much audiences enjoyed the first movie. Then, fans weren’t as tickled by the second installment, and while it opened bigger than Venom did, it ended up with far less money — just a hair over $500 million globally.

The performance of Venom: The Last Dance could have an impact on what happens next with the character. Obviously, the MCU has already teased its version of Venom coming…sometime…with that post-credits stinger from Spider-Man: No Way Home. Meanwhile, the third Venom movie seems to be setting up a King in Black story for future movies, with Andy Serkis as Knull.

It’s difficult to know what Sony considers a hit and a miss at this point. There have been some critical and financial catastrophes, like Morbius and Madame Web, sprinkled in amid hits like Venom and the Spider-Verse movies. It seems like they can’t quite decide how much they want to commit to their whole Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, since the movies are mostly pretty expensive and any that aren’t hits can be a real headache.

In addition to Tom Hardy in the title role, Venom: The Last Dance stars Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, Stephen Graham, and Cristo Fernandez. The film was directed by Kelly Marcel.

Venom: The Last Dance is in theaters now.

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Venom: The Last Dance‘s title always implied that there would be some kind of finality to the saga of Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy), and with finality often comes death. But in a comic book movie about Marvel’s symbiote race and their god, Knull (Andy Serkis), death can mean a lot of things – so doesn’t make it out of Venom: The Last Dance alive – or at least, kind of alive?

MILD SPOILERS: In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie and Venom get a massive target on their back when Knull awakens. Eddie and Venom’s deep bond creates the kind of “Codex” that Knull needs as the key to his galactic prison. The entire movie sees Eddie on the run from Knull’s horde of symbiote beasts (Xenophages), unable to tap into Venom’s full powers, lest he become an instant homing beacon for Knull to follow. The chase ends at the mysterious Area 55 facility outside Las Vegas, where Eddie and Venom must make a last stand.

Who Dies in Venom: The Last Dance?

Throughout Venom: The Last Dance it’s teased that the death of either Eddie or Venom will destroy the codex and end the threat of Knull getting loose. During the Battle of Area 55, The alien-hunting Imperium group has to set their captive symbiotes free to bond with some science and security personnel. Even with the added muscle, Venom and Co. are quickly overwhelmed by Knull’s beasts and get pinned down. Venom and Eddie decide to make the ultimate sacrifice – but the symbiote spares Eddie from that tragic ending…

In the end, only two major characters die in Venom 3, as the Venom symbiote and Imperium’s General Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) both sacrifice themselves to destroy Knull’s pack of Xenophages.

An early plot point reveals that The Imperium’s Area 55 base is actually built underneath Area 51, and that the latter is being decommissioned, with all its facilities and equipment being melted down in a giant acid bath. The Venom symbiote bonds with all the Xenophages at once, and drags them into the basin where the acid is poured; Strickland’s facial recognition is needed to activate the bath, and after already being critically wounded by a Xenophage, Strickland doesn’t flinch away from repeatedly activating the bath, even though the thrashing symbiotes splatter him with acid repeatedly. If that wasn’t a horrible enough death, a stabbed and melted Strickland decides to seal the deal by pulling his own hand grenade and blowing up the whole place.

Other than that, the people who die in Venom: The Last Dance are just secondary characters. Almost every one of the Imperium employees who become symbiotes are slaughtered by the Xenophages, along with numerous soldiers and security.

In the Venom 3 post-credits scene, it’s hinted that not even the Venom symbiote is truly dead, as we get an Inception-style tease that it’s now bonded to a cockroach that escape Area 55. So really, it’s just General Strickland who suffers a very slow, agonizing, death.

Venom: The Last Dance is now playing in theaters.

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Venom: The Last Dance threw many fans for a loop when a certain character was highlighted in its promotional material months before the movie’s release. While Eddie Brock made his way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a post-credits scene in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony and Disney have been tight-lipped regarding Tom Holland and Tom Hardy coming face-to-face. Lending credence to the idea that the Lethal Protector might have a future in the MCU, Venom 3 has a major MCU tie-in that might be setting the stage for Venom to make his way to Earth 616.

Warning. If you have yet to watch Venom: The Last Dance, be forewarned that we’ll be diving into serious spoiler territory. If you needed a refresher on what took place in Spider-Man: No Way Home’s post-credits scene, Eddie and the symbiote found themselves in the MCU thanks to being drawn there by Dr. Strange’s spell gone awry. Spending some downtime in a nearby bar, Tom Hardy’s Brock has a heart-to-heart with a bartender played by Ted Lasso’s Cristo Fernandez. During their conversation, Brock learns about the Avengers and their battle against Thanos and this scene is featured in Venom: The Last Dance.

The Venom Cinematic Universe

At the start of Venom 3, Brock is transported back to his universe thanks to a nearby portal, encountering a bartender from his universe that is the spitting image of Cristo’s character. Much like during his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a part of the symbiote breaks off and is captured by Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Rex Strickland. Unfortunately for Cristo’s character, the organization known as the Imperium isn’t too keen on having him spread the story of encountering Venom.

Outside of the Spider-Man: No Way Home scene translated from that movie to The Last Dance, there is no other reference to the MCU in the movie. However, Knull is presented as a threat that is big enough to threaten the multiverse, even if he never directly fights Venom in the finale of the trilogy. With Tom Holland confirming that Spider-Man 4 is in the works, it will be interesting to see if the King in Black is the main antagonist, setting the stage for a Venom crossover.

The State of The MCU Symbiote

While the No Way Home scene is revisited, we don’t get a better idea of what the piece of the symbiote is up to in the MCU. Thanks to splitting off from Eddie Brock’s symbiote, there is the possibility that Peter Parker could receive the black suit from Sony’s Spider-Verse without ever having met Tom Hardy. In the comics, Spidey receives the black costume for the first time as a part of the Secret Wars crossover, thanks to a machine that supplied it on Battleworld.

Swinging back around to Cristo Fernández, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to chat with the actor last year about joining the MCU and his excitement at seeing Ted Lasso co-star Brett Goldstein as Hercules, “I was very happy for him. I was very, very happy and as soon as he came out, I messaged him and he was like, ‘Ha, ha, ha, ha.’ I’m so happy to see him. I hope there’s also potential for more stuff, I’m sure there will be. He hasn’t said anything, but I like to think so too. It’s Hercules, right? There needs to be more.”

Want to see if Eddie Brock makes the leap to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future? Follow along with ComicBook.com for all the latest updates on Venom and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

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There have been quite a few theories and questions surrounding what has been billed as Eddie Brock and the symbiote’s finale in Venom: The Last Dance. One major question has revolved around Rhys Ifans’ character. Since Ifans already has a history in the Spider-Verse thanks to playing Curt Connors, aka the Lizard, in The Amazing Spider-Man, many have been dying to learn the part he plays in Brock’s potential final journey. Luckily, we have seen Venom: The Last Dance and are more than happy to break down Ifans’ character and the role he has to play in the latest Marvel film from Sony Pictures.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Venom: The Last Dance

When Rhys first appeared in Venom 3’s trailers, many wondered if it was possible that he might be Knull in disguise. Had the King in Black already made his way to planet Earth and decided to come after Brock and the symbiote in an unassuming form? Ifans’ character is one that is neither the evil deity nor Curt Connors making a comeback here as Rhys plays a character named Martin Moon. Martin makes for quite a change of pace in the third Venom movie, playing a significant role in Brock’s quest to defeat the Xenophage.

Martin Moon Explained

Martin Moon does not have an origin in the Marvel comics but that didn’t stop him and his family from entering Eddie Brock’s life. Formerly an “IT expert,” the hippy character is attempting to make his way to Area 51 before it is decommissioned, bringing his family for the ride. Wanting nothing more than to see an alien before he dies, Martin unfortunately gets his wish granted in some shocking ways.

Thanks to a run-in with the Xenophage on top of a plane, Eddie and his symbiote are forced to dive deep into the Nevada desert. Once making landfall, Eddie stumbles his way to Martin’s family, barbequing some veggies in a nearby forest. Martin helps Eddie and his partner make their way to Las Vegas before splitting off, eventually meeting Venom face-to-face during the film’s finale at Area 51. Unfortunately, the Moon family is unable to save the symbiote from its demise as the final moments of the movie see Eddie’s darker half seemingly killed in taking down Knull’s servants.

The Moons Are Not Silk-Related

Moon might sound like a familiar surname to Spider-Man fans, since Cindy Moon has been a major part of the Spider-Verse in the Marvel Comics. Silk is not present here, nor does Peter Parker make an appearance, leaving Venom a trilogy that is free from any other wall-crawlers who aren’t smack dab stuck inside of a symbiote. While it’s doubtful that Martin Moon is set to play a part in Avengers: Secret Wars, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see the end of Rhys Ifans in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will have major ties to the multiverse, though fans are still left wondering which heroes and villains will make an appearance in the upcoming films. With Spider-Man sure to play a major role, and rumors continuing to swirl that Hardy might return in the Venom role, perhaps we’ll see Rhys’ Curt Connors return following his appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Want to stay up to date on Venom’s cinematic journey? Follow along with ComicBook.com for all the latest updates on Eddie Brock and his partner-in-crime and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

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Venom: The Last Dance is billed to be the final movie that will see Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock bonding with his trusty buddy the symbiote. Leading up to the final film of the Venom trilogy, fans have been wondering what post-credits scenes will be a part of the movie. Luckily, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to see the recent Venom movie and have a serious breakdown of the post-credits scenes. Without diving too deeply into spoiler territory in our opening paragraph, Venom: The Last Dance does introduce some interesting threads that could be featured in the future.

Warning. If you have yet to watch Venom: The Last Dance, be forewarned that we’ll be diving into serious spoiler territory. For the latest Venom movie, two post-credits scenes take place after we see Eddie’s symbiote sacrificing itself to take down the Xenophages. Eddie Brock is able to survive the final encounter, making his way to New York City to see the Statue of Liberty, a dream that was held by the symbiote. While the symbiote was burned to ashes thanks to a steady stream of acid hitting the alien, Venom’s darker half might not be as deceased as the movie would have you believe.

Knull is Coming

One of the biggest reveals for Venom: The Last Dance via the movie’s promotional material is that the King in Black, Knull, is the “big bad” of the film. While he never comes face-to-face with Eddie of the Symbiote, he is given several scenes throughout the movie as he attempts to escape from a prison that the symbiote race trapped him inside. In the first post-credits scene, Knull makes sure to let the audience that he is very much alive and swears to free himself and destroy all the worlds in his way.

In the Marvel Comics, Knull earns his place as the god of the symbiotes. When he eventually makes his way to 616’s Earth, it’s all hands on deck in trying to take down the King in Black. Only through luck and all the heroes assembling is Knull eventually defeated but should he return in the future, it would be interesting to see where the villain would arrive. While nothing has been confirmed when it comes to Eddie Brock’s future, it might be possible for Knull and Brock to play a role in the MCU’s Secret Wars especially considering the second post-credits scene of Venom: The Last Dance.

Is Venom Dead?

As mentioned earlier, the Venom Symbiote does, seemingly, die while sacrificing its life to stop the Xenophage, and in turn, Knull. At the beginning of Venom: The Last Dance, we are shown Cristóbal Fernández’s bartender from Spider-Man: No Way Home and his Venom-verse counterpart with the latter playing a major role in The Last Dance’s second post-credits scene. Following the destruction of Area 51 and the Imperium organization, Cristo’s character makes a break for it, having no idea what had happened or where he is following being kidnapped by the symbiote hunters.

In one final shot, fans have the chance to glimpse a cockroach coming upon a broken vial that had previously housed a piece of the symbiote. While we don’t see for sure whether the symbiote took over the body of the insect, it’s a big tell that Sony might have had a rip cord for bringing Venom back for any future appearances. With the Marvel Cinematic Universe set to further explore the multiverse in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, perhaps Tom Hardy will make a comeback to finally pit his strength against Tom Holland’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Want to stay up to date on Marvel’s most popular symbiote? Follow along with ComicBook.com for all the latest and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

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For the last few years, Sony and Marvel have come to a working agreement when it comes to Spider-Man: the character is allowed to be part of the MCU, and in exchange, Sony can make unconnected films using various Spider-Man affiliated heroes and villains. As a result, we’ve gotten live-action films like Madam Web, Morbius, and the Venom series. While these two universes have been kept largely separate, the ending of Venom: Let There be Carnage seemed to leave the door open for a potential crossover, with Venom and Eddie both ending up in the MCU. That plot thread was briefly touched on by Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Unfortunately, No Way Home did not give us the Spider-Man and Venom crossover that seemed to be teased. Instead, Eddie and Venom showed up in a post-credit scene where they were quickly zapped back to their world. The scene was not without some consequence, as a small piece of the Symbiote was left behind. This scene does get a bit more context in Venom: The Last Dance, but does Spider-Man himself show up in the new Sony movie? WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

As with the first two Venom movies, Spider-Man does not appear in Venom: The Last Dance. That’s bound to disappoint fans that associate the two characters, and have long wanted to see them appear on-screen together. That said, the movie does still offer some hope that we’ll see Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Venom appear on-screen in some capacity. The new Venom movie does not offer a resolution to the Symbiote cliffhanger from No Way Home. Basically, there’s still a piece of Venom bouncing around the MCU, which could set-up Peter Parker’s own Venom storyline.

Holland recently confirmed that filming on a fourth Spider-Man movie will happen in 2025. At this time, we don’t know anything about that movie, or who might appear. It’s entirely possible the Symbiote story could pick up with that film. Venom is a hugely important part of the Spider-Man mythology, so it wouldn’t be all that surprising, and Sony and Marvel have done a good job establishing that these two worlds are separate.

One interesting possibility is that the Spider-Man movies could bring back Tom Hardy as a multiversal counterpart to Eddie Brock. The opening of Venom: The Last Dance shows the same bartender as he appears in both the Venom universe and the MCU. The bartender looks slightly different in Venom’s world, but is still played by the same actor. It’s possible we could see the same thing done with Eddie Brock. We’ll have to see what happens, but Tom Hardy has expressed an interest in appearing on-screen with Spider-Man in the past. It’s possible this might be a way of pulling that off!

Do you think we’ll get a Spider-Man vs. Venom film at some point? Do you want to see Tom Holland and Tom Hardy in the same movie? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

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King in Black. Lord of the Abyss. God of the Symbiotes. He is Knull, the dark god and progenitor of the symbiotic alien race spawned from the blackness of the Living Abyss: the Klyntar. Billions of years before Spider-Man’s black alien costume bonded with Peter Parker and then Eddie Brock as its host, the symbiote was part of a symbiote hive mind — and its master is the Andy Serkis-voiced villain who sends his symbiote army after Eddie/Venom (Tom Hardy) in Venom: The Last Dance.

But who is Knull in the comics, and what does the ending of Venom 3 mean for the future of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe? Because the movie explains little about the big bad, read on below for everything you need to know about Knull, King in Black.

Knull first appeared in 2018’s Venom #3 by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, although issue #4 of that same series tied his origin to a 2013 issue of Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder. (That series revealed that Knull’s first born — his god-slaying living blade, All-Black the Necrosword — was taken by Gorr the God Butcher.)

During the primordial stages of space, Knull’s abyss was bathed in light when the Celestials Arishem, Jemiah, and Ziran — god-like cosmic beings as ancient as space and time itself — birthed the Seventh Cosmos, a.k.a. the prime Marvel Universe known as Earth-616. He forged All-Black from the fires of a fallen Celestial, explaining why the proto-symbiote’s spawn have an aversion to fire.

Symbiosis began on Gorr’s homeworld, where the black-armored god dwelled for a century. His hunger manifesting as black tendrils, Knull bonded his Living Abyss with lesser creatures to survive, allowing him to draw on the host’s strength and pilot their forms as new vessels. Knull became the god-host of the symbiote hive mind, and his horde spread darkness across the galaxy with his swarm of winged Grendels: symbiote dragons.

During the dark centuries, Knull came to Earth in Scandinavia, where his symbiote army was thwarted by Thor, the god of thunder. With his connection to his children severed by the Asgardian, Knull’s swarm unraveled, and the symbiotes sought new hosts who infected the symbiote hive like a parasitic infection — like a venom. After spawning millions of symbiotes untethered from his control, Knull was consumed by the Abyss and drowned in darkness.

Knull’s symbiotes became the Klyntar — not a symbiote planet as once believed, but their word for “cage.” In his first appearance, Knull sought the missing pieces of his Grendel to free him from his prison, and he told Eddie Brock and Miles Morales that he would finish what he began eons ago: rid his dark kingdom of light by destroying Earth.

Cates and Stegman’s Marvel Universe-spanning King in Black storyline saw Knull unleash his symbiote army on the planet, an invasion that brought together Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Doctor Strange and the Avengers to stop it. Knull killed Eddie, but the Silver Surfer — who once battled the God-King of the Symbiotes at the dawn of time — resurrected him with the Enigma Force, a cosmic entity born of light.

As the temporary God of Light, Venom defeated the All Black-wielding Knull. “The void is eternal,” Knull told Eddie/Venom. “The darkness has teeth.” But so does Venom, who ended Knull’s reign as the King in Black by burning him to death in the Sun.

Knull’s death freed the symbiote hive, and Eddie Brock became the host of the symbiote hive mind as the god of the symbiotes: the new King in Black.

Venom: The Last Dance — also starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) as Rex Strickland, Juno Temple (Ted Lasso) as Dr. Payne, Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man) as Martin Moon, Alanna Ubach (Euphoria) as Nova Moon, Peggy Lu (reprising her role as Mrs. Chen), Stephen Graham (reprising his Venom 2 role as Detective Mulligan), and Andy Serkis as Knull — is now playing in theaters.

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Venom: The Last Dance is called “The Last Dance” with good reason. Tom Hardy’s time as Eddie Brock/Venom seems to be coming to an end – but that arc ending doesn’t mean the entire Sony Spider-Man Universe is coming to an end. Sony has three Marvel movies coming out this year (Madame Web, Venom 3, Kraven the Hunter) and that’s a lot of potential crossover opportunities available.

Want to know what happens at the end of Venom: The Last Dance and what it could mean for the future of the franchise? Keep reading to find out!

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Venom: The Last Dance Ending Explained

The final act of Venom 3 sees Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy) captured by “The Imperium,” a clandestine science and military group that has been hunting down and capturing symbiotes since they landed on Earth. Venom is taken to the underground base of “Area 55” to be studied along with other symbiote prisoners – and possibly killed, as the death of either Eddie or the symbiote will save the universe from Knull, God of the Symbiotes.

Unfortunately, Knull and his symbiote beasts track Venom to Area 55 and one beast infiltrates the Imperium’s base. The resulting “boss battle” unleashes the captive symbiotes who bond with Imperium team members to fight Knull’s forces. Venom has to try to both save his symbiote allies, the hippy family he befriended and himself; when the battle spills onto the surface, Knull sends an entire squad of symbiote beasts as reinforcements.

Venom knows that they are hopelessly outnumbered, and leads the monsters away from those he cares about. Eddie and the symbiote prepare to make a last stand together – but the symbiote changes the deal, tossing Eddie away and using its body to ensnare all of the symbiote beasts. Venom drags the monsters into an acid bath over the old Area 51 site, and allows itself to be disintegrated along with all the symbiote monsters. Fatally-wounded Imperium General Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is operating the acid bath controls and takes the final measure of pulling a grenade pin and blowing up the entire site. Imperium scientist Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) survives by bonding with a unique symbiote sample, which transforms her into engery-charged “Agony,” who escapes the facility at super speed.

With the Venom symbiote gone, Knull’s escape from his galactic prison and the threat of a symbiote invasion are averted. Eddie, now just a normal human again, has his criminal record expunged by the government for saving the galaxy – so long as he keeps his mouth shut about his experiences as Venom. Eddie agrees and moves to NYC, to restart his career as a reporter.

The post-credits scenes tease that Knull will return as “The King in Black” in future Sony-Marvel projects – while a second scene teases that a piece of Venom may have survived by bonding with a cockroach.

Will The Venom Movies Continue?

The ending of Venom: The Last Dance is very confusing in its goals. It’s played as a poignant and emotional ending for Tom Hardy’s time as Venom, but the film also goes out of its way to set up a larger universe with Knull and the Imperium, suggesting that Sony isn’t done with this lane of the franchise completely.

As for what Venom 3‘s ending is setting up? Whether it’s Venom 4 or a different crossover event that will tie new or continuing franchises together remains to be seen.

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Critics aren’t bonding with Venom: The Last Dance. The first reviews are in for the third and final installment in the Tom Hardy-led trilogy set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, and they range between “better than Venom: Let There Be Carnage” to “as bad as Madame Web.” But on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Venom 3 fared better than the last two Marvel-based Sony movies: the sci-fi road trip buddy comedy debuted with 40%, which is considered “rotten” but an above average score for the Sony-verse.

Venom 3 is better critically reviewed than 2018’s Venom (30%), 2022’s Morbius (15%), and 2024’s Madame Web (11%). The Andy Serkis-directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage, however, holds the best score of the franchise with a still-rotten 57%.

The lukewarm early reception has the trilogy closer tracking for a franchise low opening weekend of $65 million, which would come in below Black Adam. Dwayne Johnson’s DC movie received a similar critical response (39%) and went on to gross $390 million globally after a $67 million opening weekend when it hit theaters this same weekend in 2022.

ComicBook’s Kofi Outlaw gave the movie 2 out of 5 stars, calling Venom: The Last Dance “a disappointing Sony-Marvel release to go alongside Madame Web” and adding that the studio “has no handle on this universe or what any of it has to do with Spider-Man.” See more excerpts from reviews around the web below.

RogerEbert.com: “When it leans hard into the inherent absurdity of its wacky, mismatched buddy antics, Venom: The Last Dance can be a total blast. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen nearly as often as it should. Far too frequently, Venom: The Last Dance makes the mistake of deviating from what worked in the previous two films, particularly the second movie in the franchise and the best of them all, 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage. It grinds to a halt and stops being a Venom movie in favor of dull developments at an underground lab, far beneath the surface of Area 51. Even more egregiously, it squanders the significant talents of Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor down there in one-note roles.”

Empire: “It’s third time unlucky for a series that still hasn’t worked out what it wants to be. The Last Dance can’t find its rhythm. If, as seems very likely, this concludes the Venom story in its current form, then it wraps up as a series that sadly never fulfilled its promise. There have been moments of gonzo enjoyment along the way, but like its title character, it is in essence just a dark, globby mess.”

Associated Press: “Bringing a typical comic book-style doomsday plot is about the last thing a Venom movie needs. The best sequences in the first two movies are no more complicated than Venom craving lobster or ordering pizza. Smaller stakes better suit its warped comedy. The touchstone for these movies shouldn’t be the Marvel playbook but old episodes of The Odd Couple. I kept rooting for the surprisingly lifeless Last Dance to pull way back on its save-the-world plot (and its CGI) and lean more into its most potent effect: Hardy’s split-personality double act. If this is to be a last hurrah — which, granted is a dubious idea for anything even adjacently connected to Spider-Man — it’s a shame that we never saw more of Venom in daily life.”

IndieWire: “Hardy has never really gotten the credit he deserves for giving one of the most difficult and dynamic performances that comic book movies have ever seen, and while The Last Dance gets away from that for long stretches at a time (even the wacky sequence where Venom inhabits a variety of different animals pulls focus from what this franchise does best), at least the film ends with a fittingly poignant/ridiculous tribute to the greatest love story ever told about a man and his symbiotic alien goo.

The Hollywood Reporter: “This being the concluding chapter of a trilogy, it all leads to an emotional catharsis that will no doubt satisfy fans of the earlier movies, with a sweet touch of cheesy humor to offset the melancholy. But the only thing that really matters on the way there is the affectionately tetchy rapport between Eddie and Venom, who have gotten progressively more comfortable in each other’s skins over the year they’ve been together … The action is bigger and louder, if at times messier, than that of its predecessors, but this is also the cuddliest of the three movies.”

Variety: “This one doesn’t overstay it’s welcome; it’s basically 90 minutes long before the closing credits (which include one of the most half-hearted teasers I’ve ever seen). Some will even say that the movie is touching — though given how much time we’ve spent with Eddie and the alien and all those oily thrashing tentacles, I didn’t necessarily feel this marked the ending of a beautiful friendship. The movie gives us a wistful montage of Venom’s key bonding moments set to Maroon 5’s “Memories,” and all I can say about this sequence is that it’s a whisper away from Saturday Night Live. The “Venom” movies have been a success, and sometimes fun, but I can’t say that they’ve really been good. More like comic-book place-holders that deliver. They’re also an object lesson in what can happen to an actor as arresting as Tom Hardy when he becomes a host body, merging with the alien of corporate filmmaking.”

In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom are on the run, hunted by both their worlds: on Earth, by the military and off-world, by the God of the Symbiotes, Lord of the Abyss, King in Black: Knull. In the conclusion to the Venom trilogy, “The duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance,” per the synopsis.

Also starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange), Juno Temple (Ted Lasso), Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man), Alanna Ubach (Euphoria), Peggy Lu (reprising her role as Mrs. Chen), and Stephen Graham (reprising his Venom 2 role as Detective Mulligan), Venom 3 is in theaters Friday.

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Venom 3 is titled The Last Dance so a lot of viewers are understandably expecting the threequel to be a grand finale to Tom Hardy’s Venom Trilogy – meaning there’s nothing new to setup for the future. Then again, the Venom movies are part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe of spinoff films (See Also: Morbius, Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter), which is still trying to build out all the interconnecting threads that make these franchise universes work. So, while it is touted as the end of one story, there is arguably room for Venom: The Last Dance to also serve as a spring board to the start of another franchise storyline.

Check out the NON-SPOILER explanation, below!

Does Venom: The Last Dance Have A Post-Credits Scene?

Yes. Venom: The Last Dance has two scenes featured after the credits: a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene.

Without SPOILERS we can say:

• The Venom 3 mid-credits scene is a “button scene” that teases the future of the Sony Spider-Man Universe franchise (if not the Venom franchise).
• The Venom 3 post-credits scene is both a comedic throwaway and a possible teaser.

Are the Venom: The Last Dance Post-Credits Scenes Worth Waiting For?

Rating both scenes on the scale of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, the two Venom 3 scenes are mid-level, at best. However, they are still better than some of the other Spider-Man spinoff movie after-credits scenes (looking at you Morbius…).

NOTE: Venom: The Last Dance has one of the longest end credits sequences we’ve ever seen, so the wait between the mid-credits scene and post-credits scene is extensive.

Venom 3 Story & Cast Explained

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, JunoTemple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. KellyMarcel, who co-wrote the previous Venom, directs the third installment from a screenplay she wrote, based on an idea she and Hardy came up with together. In addition to serving as the star and writer/director of the new Venom, Hardy, and Marcel also produce alongside Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, and Hutch Parker.

Venom: The Last Dance will be released in theaters this week.

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A famous actor is taking on the role of Knull in Venom: The Last Dance. The King in Black and creator of the symbiotes has long been speculated to be in the third Venom movie, and its last trailer all but confirmed Knull’s presence. However, Sony Pictures hasn’t officially announced who is playing Knull, or if that’s even Knull fans saw in the trailer. But with early reviews for Venom: The Last Dance starting to roll in, we now have confirmation that actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis, who directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage, is portraying Knull.

Kelly Marcel replaces Andy Serkis as director of Venom: The Last Dance, but Serkis has found a way to still be involved with the movie as Knull. Marcel was a writer and producer for the first two films in the Sony/Marvel franchise, and will now close out the franchise with its third installment. There was speculation that Knull could possibly be played by Rhys Ifans, who can be seen in the Venom: The Last Dance joining a hitchhiking Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) in a van filled with hippies. That obviously didn’t turn out to be the case. Ifans is no stranger to taking on comic book roles, having also portrayed Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

Knull is a recent addition to the Venom mythos, but he’s played a big role in the comics and was the center of a crossover event, King in Black. Knull is the creator of the symbiotes and made his comics debut in 2018’s Venom #4. Knull has connections to the very beginnings of the Marvel Universe, and has crossed paths with figures such as the Celestials, Silver Surfer, Ego the Living Planet, and Thor. 

Eddie Brock and Venom ultimately defeated Knull in King in Black, with Eddie taking on the King in Black mantle. One of the lead ups to King in Black was Absolute Carnage, which saw Venom team up with the Avengers to battle a much deadlier Carnage.

Venom: The Last Dance is officially rated PG-13, much to the chagrin of the Venom fanbase. There was hope that the last Venom movie (for now) would get an R rating, with star Tom Hardy also in favor of it. Sony Pictures probably weighed the pros and cons of this decision, and ultimately landed on being conservative with Venom: The Last Dance‘s rating.

Venom: The Last Dance arrives in theaters on October 24th. Let us know your thoughts on Andy Serkis playing Knull on social media @ComicBook!

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Venom was the first of Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off films — and the first to establish the not-so-proud legacy of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe franchise. Despite its rocky start, the Venom franchise managed to win over many viewers — largely due to the performance of Tom Hardy as both Eddie Brock and Venom. The sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, got shaken up by the pandemic, but doubled down on the unhinged fun of symbiote buddy-comedy with the addition of Woody Harrelson’s Carnage. Now, Venom: The Last Dance comes along to finish off the trilogy strong — but ultimately comes in at last place as a half-formed attempt at a serious superhero movie blockbuster that would be considered average even by 2000s comic book movie standards.

The “story” of Venom: The Last Dance sees Eddie Brock and Venom (Hardy) snatched back to their native reality after a brief (and very pointless) hop over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (see: Spider-Man: No Way Home). Eddie returns to his reality to find that the battle with Carnage in San Francisco has made him a fugitive. Eddie thinks (for some reason) that relocating to NYC will be the fresh start he needs, and begins his journey there. Unfortunately, Eddie is unaware that Knull, God of the Symbiotes (Andy Serkis) is awake and searching for the codex, a powerful artifact (read: MacGuffin) created when a symbiote and host fuse their lifeforce.

Naturally, Eddie and Venom are the holders of the codex, so Knull sends some symbiote beasts out across the universe to retrieve it. After barely escaping a first encounter, the symbiote reveals the whole mess of the situation to Eddie, informing him that fully manifesting as Venom acts as a homing signal to Knull’s monsters, so they must travel in human form, with limited (budget-saving) symbiote abilities. However, the threat of Knull is also being tracked by a shadowy organization of scientists (Juno Temple’s Dr. Teddy Payne) and soldiers (Chiwetel Ejiofor’s General Rex Strickland) who have been tracking, containing, and neutralizing symbiotes since they arrived on Earth. That organization also targets Venom, knowing that killing either Eddie or the Symbiote ends the threat to the universe for good.

Kelly Marcel should get praise for arguably directing the most visually coherent and action-heavy Venom film — especially since it is the first movie she has ever directed. Marcel was a writer of the first Venom film and was the sole writer of both Let There Be Carnage and The Last Dance, so she clearly has some creative authority and love for this version of the character. That’s what makes it curious to see Last Dance fall into the trap of feeling like another Spider-Man spin-off film that’s only half-fitted to be part of a bigger universe. The entire storyline about the symbiote-hunting organization and characters like Payne and Strickland are only half-explained but ultimately get positioned to be a bigger part of the franchise going forward. The inclusion of Serkis as Knull seems more like a prank played on the comic book nerds, as the “King in Black” is largely a non-element in the film, and featured in a few scenes where his face isn’t even shown to the audience. If Sony was hoping this was the Avengers “Thanos moment” for the Spider-Man spinoffs … it’s not.

It certainly draws a lot of screen time away from Eddie and Venom, which is understandable: Tom Hardy is largely walking through the film looking worn out from this run — a fact hilariously driven home by an included montage of all three Venom films, which all but demonstrates the diminishing returns for both actor and audience. In the few moments where Hardy does once again muster the chaotic rom-com energy of Eddie and Venom, we get reminded of what (if nothing else) this series achieved. You almost wish Hardy and Co. had leaned into all the online jokes about how Venom 3 didn’t need to do anything more than provide a final showcase of Hardy’s one-man show. Instead, we get an overstuffed, overly serious comic book movie that could tarnish some of its top-talent supporting cast.

Poor Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) is in a military drama only he seems invested in; Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man, House of the Dragon) collected a check to chew the scenery as a hippie dad named Martin; Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire) has the weirdest bit part (and a two-time wasted villain role) as Patrick Mulligan/Toxin; only Juno Temple (Ted Lasso, Fargo) finds the line between quirky comic book hyper-realism and gravitas so that her scientist character can charmingly run the audience through all the silly symbiote exposition and CGI effects required to set up the third act.

Without spoiling it, it’s hard to get into the absurdity of Venom: The Last Dance‘s final act, climax, and ending. Once again, it feels like Sony has no handle on this universe or what any of it has to do with Spider-Man — heck, fans won’t even leave with a clear resolution over whether this Venom movie saga is over or not (making even the title of the film feel like a misstep).

Venom: The Last Dance is a disappointing Sony-Marvel release to go alongside Madame Web. And the odds for Kraven the Hunter to complete a single-year trifecta of Spider-Man spinoff misses are going way, way up.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Venom: The Last Dance will be released in theaters on October 25th.

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The Man in Black is looking to beat the King in Black at the box office. Venom: The Last Dance is projected to open this weekend with a franchise low of $65 million domestically, just below the $67 million that the Dwayne Johnson-starring Black Adam took in during its first weekend in the same time frame in 2022. While that was enough for the seventh-best October opening — behind the $80 million of 2018’s Venom and the $90 million of 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage — the DC movie ultimately underperformed at the global box office. Black Adam, which cost $195 million and went on to gross $390 million, earned less than October comic book releases Joker ($1 billion), Venom ($856 million), and Venom 2 ($506 million).

With an expected overseas opening upwards of $85 million, Venom 3 is on track for a potential $150 million global weekend, according to Deadline. The first Venom scored the biggest October opening ever at the time in 2018 with $205.5 million (a record it held until DC’s Joker surpassed that number with $248.4 million), and its opening weekend haul of $80 million domestic was the best October opening weekend of all time (until Joker‘s still-unmatched $96.2 million in October 2019).

Initial industry projections just one week ago had Venom 3 opening with $70 million, within range of Marvel Studios’ Eternals ($71 million), which disappointed with a global tally of $401 million. A $65 million domestic opening weekend would put Venom 3 on par with 2011’s Thor ($65.7 million opening weekend; $449 million worldwide); 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger ($65 million opening weekend; $370 million worldwide); 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($65 million opening weekend; $485 million worldwide); and
2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse ($65.7 million opening weekend; $542 million worldwide).

Venom: The Last Dance is “a whacky buddy road trip that stretches its PG-13 rating as far as it will possibly go,” ComicBook’s Chris Killian tweeted following the Monday night premiere in New York City. “Simply put – Venom 3 is classic guilty pleasure cinema. Turn your brains off and let Venom snack on ‘em.”

Sony Pictures will lift the embargo on critics’ Venom 3 reviews on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 3 p.m. ET, one day before the early showings begin at 2 p.m. on Thursday.

In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom are on the run, hunted by both their worlds: on Earth, by the military and off-world, by the God of the Symbiotes, Lord of the Abyss, King in Black: Knull. In the conclusion to the Venom trilogy, “The duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance,” per the synopsis.

Hardy leads a cast that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) Juno Temple (Ted Lasso), Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man), Alanna Ubach (Euphoria), Peggy Lu (reprising her role as Mrs. Chen), and Stephen Graham (reprising his Venom 2 role as Detective Mulligan). Kelly Marcel, co-writer of the first two films, makes her directorial debut and directs from a script she co-wrote with Hardy. Avi Arad (Borderlands), Matt Tolmach (Morbius), Amy Pascal (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and Hutch Parker (The Wolverine) are the producers with Marcel and Hardy.

Venom 3 opens only in theaters Friday.

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Venom: The Last Dance star Tom Hardy addressed returning as a villain in Spider-Man 4. The promotional tour for Sony’s new movie has been flying by and the actor caught up with The Associated Press to discuss his Marvel future. It’s been well-documented that Venom: The Last Dance is his final appearance as the anti-hero in these solo adventures. But, Marvel fans have been hoping to see him square up with Tom Holland over in the MCU. According to Hardy, he would still love that. But, he hasn’t been handed a script for Spider-Man 4 yet. So, it seems like he’s not a part of the plans so far. That doesn’t mean things can’t change over the course of production though. Everyone remembers Andrew Garfield vehemently denying his involvement in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Hardy said, “I don’t see him in the next Spider-Man movie, because I’d have the script and I don’t have that.

Marvel fans are hoping that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. So many whispers have swirled around Venom: The Last Dance, more than a good number of those rumors are about Spider-Man. Sony itself has been teaming a collision between Spidey and Venom for years now. Hardy has posted fanart of an eventual meeting on social media. Tom Holland has sounded open to the prospect. It’s all building momentum here. Two years ago, when Venom: Let There Be Carnage was still ringing in the ears of the fanbase, director Andy Serkis talked about teasing that confrontation between Hardy’s anti-hero and Holland’s MCU standard-bearer. It seems like we’re closer to that fateful meeting than ever if you’ve seen the trailers for Sony’s big blockbuster.

“We wanted to leave the audience knowing that these universes are going to somehow collide and we wanted to do it in such a way that it still leaves so much open and we’re not timing anything,”Serkis previously told us when the second Venom movie dropped. “The portal is not being crossed fully. It’s opening up more questions, I suppose, rather than sort of firmly saying [anything]….It is a tease. It’s a tease, in the fullest sense of the word.”

Sony is going to continue teasing a possible Spider-Man and Venom showdown until it happens. However, multiple Internet scoopers have suggested that Knull will play a big role in the MCU’s upcoming Spider-Man film. Seeing as how the Venom villain gets introduced in Venom: The Last Dance, it’s only natural to think that we’d see Tom Hardy in the MCU at some point as well. For now, this is all just clever teasing for the fans to take a trip to the theater this weekend to see the last appearance of the symbiote. Maybe, there are some surprises waiting in that post-credit scene for Tom Holland, and everybody else who cares what happens in those Marvel Studios movies. At this point, we would welcome such a change, because it’s been an eternity of teasing with very little payoff as far as actual punching is concerned.

Do you think the Venom will be in Spider-Man 4? Check out all the pop culture conversation over at @ComicBook!

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Tom Hardy wants to sink his teeth into a Spider-Man-Venom crossover. But which Spider-Man? Venom: The Last Dance (out October 25) is the third and final film in Sony’s Venom trilogy, marking Hardy’s fourth outing as the symbiote-bonded Eddie Brock, who we last saw in the mid-credits scene of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. After a haywire spell cast by Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange brought him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside other Spider-Man villains from throughout the multiverse, Eddie spent his stint in the MCU at a bar in Mexico before he was blipped back to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe — leaving the almost-Sinister Six shy of one member and never crossing paths with Peter Parker 1 (Tom Holland), Peter 2 (Tobey Maguire), or Peter 3 (Andrew Garfield).

“I would love to fight Spider-Man. I would love to fight him now. I’m happy to fight Spider-Man today, 100 percent,” Hardy said onstage during the Venom 3 New York Comic Con panel. “I would never say never. We were specifically set up to bring Venom to a movie format, and that’s what we’ve done. The Last Dance is the final piece in that trilogy, and we’re really excited about that.”

But with there being three live-action Spider-Men, ComicBook asked Hardy to clarify which webhead he wants to tango with after The Last Dance. “Tom Holland, without a shadow of a doubt,” Hardy said in our exclusive interview (below).

After he faced off with another comic book adversary in 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage — Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), a.k.a. the symbiotic serial killer Carnage — Hardy said that a potential run-in with Spider-Man depended on Sony and Marvel Studios’ ongoing partnership concerning the Spider-Man movie rights.

“I would be remiss if I wasn’t trying to steer any kind of connectivity,” he told Esquire. “I wouldn’t be doing the job if I wasn’t awake and open to any opportunity or eventuality or be excited by that. Obviously, that’s a large canyon to leap, to be bridged by one person alone, and it would take a much higher level of diplomacy and intelligence, sitting down and talking, to take on an arena such as that.

“Should both sides be willing, and it be beneficial to both sides, I don’t see why it couldn’t be,” he continued. “I hope and strongly, with both hands, push, eagerly, towards that potential, and would do anything to make that happen, within what’s right in business. But it would be foolish not to head towards the Olympic Games if you were running 100 meters, so yeah! I want to play on that field.”

In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom are on the run, hunted by both their worlds: on Earth, by the military (at the charge of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character) and off-world, by the God of the Symbiotes, Lord of the Abyss, King in Black: Knull. In the conclusion to the Venom trilogy, “The duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance,” per the synopsis.

In addition to Hardy and Ejiofor, Venom 3 stars Juno Temple (Ted Lasso), Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man), Alanna Ubach (Euphoria), Peggy Lu (reprising her role as Mrs. Chen), and Stephen Graham (reprising his Venom 2 role as Detective Mulligan). Kelly Marcel, co-writer of the first two films, makes her directorial debut and directs from a script she co-wrote with Hardy. Avi Arad (Borderlands), Matt Tolmach (Morbius), Amy Pascal (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and Hutch Parker (The Wolverine) are the producers with Marcel and Hardy. Venom 3 is in theaters Oct. 25.

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Chiwetel Ejiofor is about to be a Marvel movie veteran in more ways than one. The actor starred in Doctor Strange as Baron Mordo, and fans saw his path from hero-in-training to potentially dangerous villain. This month he’s set to make the jump from the MCU to Sony’s universe of Marvel characters, taking on the role of General Strickland in Venom: The Last Dance.

While both characters are integral to Marvel movies, they couldn’t be more different. Mordo is a sorcerer, a master of dark and ancient arts. Strickland is much more grounded, rooted in what we know of as reality, making him an interesting fit for a film about symbiotic alien goo that can take over other life forms.

Ahead of Venom: The Last Dance‘s arrival in theaters this weekend, ComicBook.com spoke with Ejiofor about the differences between his two major Marvel characters.

“It’s just such a different character, and that’s the main thing,” Ejiofor told us. “For General Strickland, just how organized everything is, and the responsibility. How Earthy it is. It’s all just kind of built on reality and on these really high stakes for him, this attempt to keep in line the military part of this incredibly secret facility. His life, in many ways, is being complicated by the scientific wing of that, headed by Doctor Payne. So they end up in this kind of conflict about what’s best, and the best ways to proceed with these alien life forms. And all of that, all of those dynamics, were really interesting to play. And fun to play, with Juno [Temple].”

Mordo and Strickland are such different characters that it would be hard to find some common ground that could connect them in-universe. Before knowing who Ejiofor was playing, though, many Marvel fans thought his role could somehow be related to Mordo, or even an alt-universe version of the character in disguise.

Those theories almost all stem from the “crossover” between Venom and the MCU in the post-credits for Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home. The former saw Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his Symbiote end up in the same universe as Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, while the latter saw those characters shipped back to their universe, although they left a little piece of Symbiote behind.

This gave both Marvel franchises a way to connect with one another if need be, but there hasn’t been any real connective tissue between Hardy and Holland’s characters on-screen.

Given this lack of connection, it seems as though the door is still open for Ejiofor to reprise his Mordo role in the MCU, should a future opportunity arise.

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Tom Hardy looks to bring Venom’s movie saga to a thrilling close in Venom: The Last Dance, and that adventure wouldn’t be possible without the comics that introduced Venom to the world. First brought to life by Todd McFarlane and David Michelinie back in Amazing Spider-Man #299, Venom has since become one of Marvel’s most popular characters, and now he’s developed a new legion of fans on the big screen. Crazily enough McFarlane and Hardy hadn’t actually met before New York Comic-Con, but ComicBook’s Chris Killian had the chance to be in the room when McFarlane, Hardy, and Venom: The Last Dance director Kelly Marcel all finally crossed paths, and you can watch the moment play out in the video below!

During ComicBook’s interview with Marcel and Hardy, McFarlane surprised the pair after we subtly brought up who created the character. McFarlane entered the room, telling them how special it is to see a character he worked on so long ago reach a whole new audience thanks to the work Hardy, Marcel, and the rest of the team have done in bringing Venom to life in film.

“I appreciate meeting the two of you,” McFarlane said. “I just wanted to say from a personal point of view it’s been a pleasure, seeing this character that I created so long ago with David Michelinie, the writer. But even more so that there’s rarely a day that goes by I don’t run into somebody, usually like kids that come around, they go, ‘Man, I just love those Venom movies, Todd.’ ‘Oh, thanks.’ I just came up with a design that we had no idea (would take off) and you guys are now taking it to the world, right? It’s just been an utter pleasure to sit back and watch it I just want to say thanks to you.”

Marcel told McFarlane “We love him, We love him. We’re such big fans.” Hardy added, “Thank you for creating Venom”, but McFarlane responded, “Oh no, you guys take it to the next level.” Hardy added, “Oh no, we get to play with him. So thank you.”

The Future

While this very well might be Venom‘s final film, it most likely won’t be Knull’s, as Marcel says The Last Dance is really “the beginnings” of Knull’s on-screen story. Marcel assured fans that they know just how important Knull is, and they hope they are laying the same foundation for Knull as they did Hardy’s Venom.

“We were always aware of Knull, but knew that we needed to lay the foundation of the Venom character, and his relationship with Eddie, before introducing him. This is just the beginning for Knull,” Marcel said. “We’re in spoiler territory now and we hope some of the fun of watching this movie is not knowing what will happen, but trust me, we know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull. The King in Black is way too powerful for ‘one and done.’”

Venom: The Last Dance hits theaters on October 25th.

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Later this week Tom Hardy will be seen on the big screen in Venom: The Last Dance, marking his third feature film starring as the Marvel antihero. Though he’s been playing the role of Venom on screen for six years now, Hardy didn’t actually meet Venom’s co-creator Todd McFarlane until very recently…and ComicBook had a hand in getting the two creatives together for the first time.

Speaking with Tom Hardy and Venom: The Last Dance writer/director Kelly Marcel, we asked the pair if they recalled who created the iconic comic book character, with both quickly naming McFarlane. Having dropped his name themselves, we then opened the door and had the man himself enter the room for a full introduction to the pair.

“I just wanted to say from a personal point of view it’s been a pleasure, seeing this character that I created so long ago with David Michelinie (on screen),” McFarlane said to Hardy and Marcel. “There’s rarely a day that goes by I don’t run into somebody, usually kids that come around, they go, ‘Man, I just love those Venom movies, Todd.’ ‘I just came up with a design that we had no idea (would take off) and you guys are now taking it to the world, right? It’s just been an utter pleasure to sit back and watch it, I just want to say thanks to you.”

“We love him, We love him,” Marcel told McFarlane. “We’re such big fans.”  

McFarlane and Hardy then went on to have fun exchange.

“Thank you for creating Venom,” Hardy said to McFarlane, prompting the creator to respond: “Oh no, you guys take it to the next level.

“Oh no, we get to play with him,” Hardy added. “So thank you.”

Across the two live-action movies that have been released, Venom has brought in over $1.3 billion at the global box office. The upcoming Venom: The Last Dance will no doubt push that number even higher, while the future for the character may also be even more open than the title for the sequel implies.

McFarlane’s influence on Marvel Comics (and comics at large) has been felt not only in the Venom feature films (where character beyond Venom that he co-created also appear) but even in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This summer’s hit movie Deadpool & Wolverine paid homage to McFarlane’s iconic cover from 1987’s Incredible Hulk #340, featuring the reflection of The Hulk in Wolverine’s claws, by recreating the moment with Hugh Jackman and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk in a brief moment.

What is Venom: The Last Dance about?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. The film is directed by Kelly Marcel from a screenplay she wrote, based on a story by Hardy and Marcel.

Venom: The Last Dance opens in theaters on October 25th.

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The rating for Venom: The Last Dance may have fans, as well as star Tom Hardy, disappointed. The third film in Sony Pictures’ Venom franchise is the swan song for Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom, the character that evolved from one of Spider-Man’s greatest enemies to a full-fledged hero in the Marvel Universe. There was a time when a movie starring Venom would have seemed silly, but Hardy and the team at Sony Pictures have done a commendable job of turning Venom into a property that fans are excited to watch. With Venom: The Last Dance being the end of the road for the Lethal Protector, there was hope that it would move past the PG-13 rating of its predecessors to warrant an R-rating. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.

Venom: The Last Dance‘s official MPA rating has been revealed, and instead of being rated R, Venom 3 will be rated PG-13 “for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images, and strong language.” There was a big movement by Venom fandom and Tom Hardy for Venom: The Last Dance to get that R-rating. The advantage of being rated R is that it allows for more violence and bloodshed on film, along with having a more mature tone. Sony Pictures probably weighed the pros and cons of this decision, and ultimately landed on being conservative with Venom: The Last Dance‘s rating.

It remains to be seen how Venom fans will react to the news. More than likely it won’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Fans who were already going to see Venom: The Last Dance in theaters probably aren’t changing their minds based on a rating, especially if they saw Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which were also PG-13.

One of the big talking points coming out of the final trailer for Venom: The Last Dance was the appearance of Knull. The villain is a recent addition to the Venom mythos, but he’s played a big role in the comics and was the center of a crossover event, King in Black. Knull is the creator of the symbiotes and made his comics debut in 2018’s Venom #4. Knull has connections to the very beginnings of the Marvel Universe, and has crossed paths with figures such as the Celestials, Silver Surfer, Ego the Living Planet, and Thor. 

Eddie Brock and Venom ultimately defeated Knull in King in Black, with Eddie taking on the King in Black mantle. One of the lead ups to King in Black was Absolute Carnage, which saw Venom team up with the Avengers to battle a much deadlier Carnage.

While the actor playing Knull hasn’t been confirmed, the cast list for Venom: The Last Dance includes Rhys Ifans, who looks a lot like the Knull we quickly saw in the Venom 3 trailer. Ifans is no stranger to taking on comic book roles, having also portrayed Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

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The theatrical debut of Venom: The Last Dance is just around the corner, promising to deliver an epic new chapter in the story of Eddie Brock / Venom (Tom Hardy). The live-action take on the character has spanned two solo films and a confusing string of post-credit appearances since 2018, with fans all around the world becoming endeared to Hardy’s performance. While the actor has repeatedly stated that The Last Dance will be his final solo film as the character, there has still been the question of what his onscreen future holds, either in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe or through crossing back over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As we wait to see what The Last Dance ultimately does for Eddie’s story, one prevailing theory has surrounded his connection to that film’s villain, Knull.

Created by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, Knull is a primordial cosmic being with a wide-ranging impact across the Marvel Universe. Retroactively established as an instrumental part of Gorr the God Butcher’s debut in Thor, Knull was later properly introduced as the “King in Black”, who created and has domain over all symbiotes in the galaxy. He eventually became the central antagonist of the King in Black comic crossover, which saw nearly all of the Marvel Universe joining forces to fight him.

Those involved with The Last Dance have already hinted at Knull’s onscreen debut being the first chapter in a larger story, which has naturally led some to wonder if the specific character will eventually become a larger onscreen villain. But if that is not the case, what if Eddie ultimately takes his place?

This doesn’t necessarily mean Eddie would transform into a new version of Knull — although, admittedly, there would be some interesting narrative potential in seeing that corruption. If anything, there could be a fun (and as of late, comic-accurate) narrative in having Hardy’s Eddie succeed Knull as the King in Black. The honor (or burden, depending on how you look at it) was bestowed upon Eddie after he killed Knull at the end of the King in Black storyline, giving him access to the Nexus of the Hive Mind and other domain over the symbiotes. In the years since that event, Eddie has used the King in Black title to go through some convoluted evolutions and start a new superhero team, all while passing the proper mantle of Venom onto his son.

While we probably would not see aspects of that adapted onscreen following The Last Dance, bonding Hardy’s Eddie to the symbiotes of the universe would be a clever full-circle choice, given his reluctant journey with Venom over the years. And theoretically, if the live-action Spider-Man mythos were to reach the point of some sort of onscreen crossover event, it would be rather fitting to place Eddie Brock into the role of a franchise-spanning antagonist. Amid the highs and lows of Sony’s various movies about Spider-Man villains, the Venom franchise has remained their biggest stable success, grossing plenty of money at the box office and being well-received among fans. Turning the “face of your franchise” into its new greatest villain does have some interesting story potential, as evident by the MCU’s own casting for Doctor Doom.

No matter how notorious and meme-worthy Morbius and Madame Web have become, the prospect of seeing characters from those films join forces to fight a super-powerful Venom could very well be a draw for a big crossover movie, doubly so if any of Sony’s live-action Spider-Man portrayals were to somehow get involved. Hardy’s Venom becoming the next live-action King in Black would work, in part, because fans would truthfully have no idea what to expect, even amid the past few years of comic precedent. Amid the highs and lows of the superhero movie industry around him, Hardy’s take on Venom has become beloved for how wacky and maximalist it is — and what could be more wacky and maximalist than seeing him transform from an ordinary disgraced reporter to a full-blown cosmic deity?

Venom: The Last Dance will be released exclusively in theaters on Friday, October 25th.

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The box office projections for Venom: The Last Dance are tracking as the lowest in the entire franchise. To say films are having a tough time in theaters at the moment would be an understatement. There was an expectation that Joker: Folie a Deux would ride the momentum from 2019’s Joker to more box office success. Unfortunately, Joker 2 landed in the same range as major disappointments The Flash and The Marvels. Deadpool & Wolverine is the only comic book property to be a hit with audiences at the theater this year, but can Venom: The Last Dance join the Marvel flick in that category?

The tracking for Venom: The Last Dance opening weekend is in the range of $70 million, which is lower than 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($90 million) and 2018’s Venom ($80.2 million). To put that in perspective, Deadpool & Wolverine‘s opening weekend made $211.4 million, and Joker: Folie a Deux was surprisingly under $40 million. So if Venom 2 was able to stay close to that $70 million projection, Sony Pictures would probably take that as a much-needed win. There isn’t much competition in Venom: The Last Dance‘s way, so the runway is there if the audience shows up.

Venom: The Last Dance runtime revealed

With tickets for Venom: The Last Dance now on sale, audiences can find out how long the movie actually is. The official runtime for Venom: The Last Dance is 1 hour and 50 minutes with credits. The previous two movies – Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage – were also under the two-hour mark. Sony has stuck to this for all of the movies that exist in its Spider-Man Universe: Madame Web had a runtime of 1 hour 56 minutes, and Morbius was 1 hour 44 minutes. We’ll have to see how long Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven: The Hunter winds up being.

To compare, the runtime of Venom 3 is within range of 2011’s Thor and 2016’s Doctor Strange (both 1 hour 55 minutes), 2011’s Green Lantern (1 hour 54 minutes), 2004’s Blade: Trinity and 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix (1 hour 53 minutes), 2013’s Thor: The Dark World and The Incredible Hulk (1 hour 52 minutes), and The Crow remake (1 hour 51 minutes). Venom 3 is the same length as 2007’s Ghost Rider and 2008’s Wanted, and just a minute longer than 2020’s Bloodshot and Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (1 hour 49 minutes).

Other superhero movies to come in under two hours include 2016’s Deadpool (1 hour 48 minutes), 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine (1 hour 47 minutes), 2005’s Fantastic Four (1 hour 46 minutes), 2000’s X-Men (1 hour 44 minutes), 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand (1 hour 44 minutes), 2004’s Catwoman (1 hour 44 minutes), 2003’s Daredevil (1 hour 43 minutes), 2008’s The Punisher: War Zone (1 hour 43 minutes) and 2015’s Fant4stic (1 hour 40 minutes).

What is Venom: The Last Dance about?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. The film is directed by Kelly Marcel from a screenplay she wrote, based on a story by Hardy and Marcel. The movie opens in theaters on October 25th.

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The final installment in the Tom Hardy Venom trilogy is hitting theaters later this month, and bringing with it one of the most popular characters in recent Venom comics history. Venom: The Last Dance will feature the Symbiote god Knull as an important character of Eddie and Venom’s journey, though he apparently won’t be the film’s main antagonist. That’s because the creative forces behind this new Venom film seem to have bigger plans for Knull than just this one movie.

Knull immediately became a fan-favorite villain after debuting in Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s acclaimed Venom run back in 2018. The trailer for Venom: The Last Dance included a shot of Knull, seemingly setting him as the film’s villain, but director and co-writer Kelly Marcel thinks that honor goes to another character.

Instead, The Last Dance will be laying the groundwork for more Knull at some point in the future. While speaking to IGN about the film, Marcel noted that “one movie could never do justice to Knull.”

“We were always aware of Knull, but knew that we needed to lay the foundation of the Venom character, and his relationship with Eddie, before introducing him. This is just the beginning for Knull,” the filmmaker continued. “We’re in spoiler territory now and we hope some of the fun of watching this movie is not knowing what will happen, but trust me, we know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull. The King in Black is way too powerful for ‘one and done.’”

Marcel goes on to call The Last Dance “the beginnings” of Knull’s on-screen story. That would indicate that the character is going to appear in more movies in the future. With this Venom story wrapping up the saga of Tom Hardy’s character, could that a solo Knull movie is already in the works?

“This film introduces Knull, but it just touches the beginnings of his story,” Marcel added. “Marvel’s greatest film villains are developed over time. Here, Knull is the threat lurking behind the danger that tests the absolute limits of Eddie and Venom’s partnership — but it’s their relationship that remains the heart of this story.”

While he hasn’t existed in the pages of Marvel Comics for very long, Knull quickly established himself as one of the most devastating villains in Venom or Spider-Man stories. His connection to all Symbiotes around the universe makes him a terrifying foe for any Marvel hero, especially one like Venom that is already part-Symbiote.

Venom: The Last Dance arrives in theaters on October 25th.

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When the most recent promotional material for Venom: The Last Dance dropped, fans got a glimpse of grisly-looking, symbiote-hunting baddie. There have been a few fan theories as to which character it could be, with Grendel being a fairly popular choice. Instead, it turns out that this is one of the original symbiote hunters — a race of aliens known as xenophage. One of them, nicknamed Phage, was an antagonist in the mostly-forgotten 1996 miniseries Venom: The Hunted. That story centered on the Venom symbiote being hunted by xenophage, an interstellar predator race who consider symbiotes a delicacy.

They’re pretty ugly-looking spuds in their natural forms (not like the symbiotes are cute and cuddly), but the xenophage are also shapeshifters (at least in the comics). In one instance, a xenophage that was hunting Venom disguised itself as a piece of furniture, so they aren’t limited to just living beings, either.

Apparent confirmation that the creature in the trailer is a xenophage comes from fan account The Venom Site on social media, where they shared an image of what appears to be a t-shirt featuring the character and a graffiti-style “Xenophage” label.

Xenophages particularly like eating symbiote brains, but will also sometimes eat other brains if there isn’t a symbiote handy. In Venom: The Hunted, the title works on two levels because one such murder of a human lands Venom in the police crosshairs while the xenophage who did the actual murder works to track down Venom on its own.

Created by G.I. Joe legend Larry Hama and Man of Action Studios’ Duncan Rouleau, the xenophage is kind of a footnote in Marvel’s (and Venom’s) history, having only really played a key role in Venom: The Hunted. It isn’t immediately clear how much of the Venom: The Hunted story might carry over here, or if the xenophage is just being used a kind of generic alien army for Knull, in the vein of what the Chitauri were for Loki and Thanos in The Avengers.

What does seem likely is that the xenophage in the movie will be actively hunting Venom in specific. In Venom: The Hunted, the Planet of the Symbiotes event had just happened in Spider-Man titles, and Marvel had a lot of symbiotes chilling on Earth who could be targeted. More generally, Earth was inherently a target because of how many symbiotes kept finding their way to the world. In Venom, there aren’t quite as many of them camped out here (although maybe that can change before The Last Dance starts).

“These things [usually] come in threes,” Hardy had told Digital Spy shortly before Venom 3 became official. “If there’s going to be a new one – and they depend heavily on the success of each individual one, so you can’t count on them ever happening again – every one has got to be as if it was the last one. But I think it’s really important, if you go into something, thinking that one, two and three are the same… the same story, the same film. So that you don’t surprise yourself by being caught out by suddenly having to do a third from nowhere. There’s got to be some continuity into a third and fourth and fifth, and if somebody says ‘no’, that’s fine. Let it go, and you move on to something else.”

Venom: The Last Dance will be directed by Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey), who wrote and produced the first two Venom movies alongside Tom Hardy; Marcel is also writing the script of the third film. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, and Hutch Parker will all produce alongside Marcel and Hardy. 

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Venom: The Last Dance will be a quickstep. With tickets for the Sony Marvel adaptation now on sale, movie theater chain listings reveal that the official Venom 3 runtime is 1 hour and 50 minutes with credits. The 110-minute length is on par for the franchise and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe: 2018’s Venom clocked in at 1 hour 52 minutes with credits, while Madame Web had a runtime of 1 hour 56 minutes. 2022’s Morbius was 1 hour 44 minutes, but the shortest runtime was 2021’s Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage at 1 hour 37 minutes.

To compare, the runtime of Venom 3 is within range of 2011’s Thor and 2016’s Doctor Strange (both 1 hour 55 minutes), 2011’s Green Lantern (1 hour 54 minutes), 2004’s Blade: Trinity and 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix (1 hour 53 minutes), 2013’s Thor: The Dark World and The Incredible Hulk (1 hour 52 minutes), and The Crow remake (1 hour 51 minutes). Venom 3 is the same length as 2007’s Ghost Rider and 2008’s Wanted, and just a minute longer than 2020’s Bloodshot and Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (1 hour 49 minutes).

Other superhero movies to come in under two hours include 2016’s Deadpool (1 hour 48 minutes), 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine (1 hour 47 minutes), 2005’s Fantastic Four (1 hour 46 minutes), 2000’s X-Men (1 hour 44 minutes), 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand (1 hour 44 minutes), 2004’s Catwoman (1 hour 44 minutes), 2003’s Daredevil (1 hour 43 minutes), 2008’s The Punisher: War Zone (1 hour 43 minutes) and 2015’s Fant4stic (1 hour 40 minutes).

In Venom: The Last Dance, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom are on the run, hunted by both their worlds: on Earth, by the military (at the charge of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character) and off-world, by the God of the Symbiotes, Lord of the Abyss, King in Black: Knull. In the conclusion to the Venom trilogy, “The duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance,” per the synopsis.

In addition to Hardy and Ejiofor, Venom 3 stars Juno Temple (Ted Lasso), Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-Man), Alanna Ubach (Euphoria), Peggy Lu (reprising her role as Mrs. Chen), and Stephen Graham (reprising his Venom 2 role as Detective Mulligan). Kelly Marcel, co-writer of the first two films, makes her directorial debut and directs from a script she co-wrote with Hardy. Avi Arad (Borderlands), Matt Tolmach (Morbius), Amy Pascal (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and Hutch Parker (The Wolverine) are the producers with Marcel and Hardy.

Venom: The Last Dance is playing only in theaters starting Oct. 25.

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Not to be outdone by the Thor Frog in Loki, the final installment in Tom Hardy’s Venom trilogy is rolling out a veritable menagerie of symbiote-infected critters, from horses to fish to frogs. A new TV spot for Venom: The Last Dance showed off the two latter animals, which are of course an affront to nature and something to be celebrated. It also — because why not? — name-dropped Tom Cruise and is premised around an extended Superman parody. So…make of that what you will, good reader.

The spot is the latest ad for the third Venom, for which the marketing finally seems to have caught up with the movies’ vibes. In the past, they’ve advertised the movies in a pretty straightforward way, rather than leaning into the silly, grotesque, and bizarre things that make people love Venom.

(See also: Venom recently doing a crossover with Hot Ones.)

You can see the TV spot below.

…Yes, they went with the old “it’s a bird, it’s a plane” bit — which is made a little more forgivable by Venom’s attachment to an actual plane along the way.

The first two Venom movies have been the only big hits Sony has produced with its live-action Spider-Man franchise yet, earning a combined $1.3 billion at the box office while both Morbius and Madame Web were critical and commercial disappointments. Hardy’s Eddie Brock also had a brief cameo in the mega-hit Spider-Man: No Way Home.

“These things [usually] come in threes,” Hardy had told Digital Spy shortly before Venom 3 became official. “If there’s going to be a new one – and they depend heavily on the success of each individual one, so you can’t count on them ever happening again – every one has got to be as if it was the last one. But I think it’s really important, if you go into something, thinking that one, two and three are the same… the same story, the same film. So that you don’t surprise yourself by being caught out by suddenly having to do a third from nowhere. There’s got to be some continuity into a third and fourth and fifth, and if somebody says ‘no’, that’s fine. Let it go, and you move on to something else.”

Venom 3 will be directed by Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey), who wrote and produced the first two Venom movies alongside Tom Hardy; Marcel is also writing the script of the third film. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, and Hutch Parker will all produce alongside Marcel and Hardy. 

Venom: The Last Dance will waltz into theaters on October 25th.

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Venom’s past catches up with Tom Hardy in a new TV spot for Venom: The Last Dance. We’re only a few short weeks away from the release of Venom: The Last Dance, which is billed as the final chapter in Sony Pictures’ Venom saga. Tom Hardy is back as Eddie Brock / Venom, but this time the entire planet is being invaded by a swarm of symbiotes. Venom’s creator, most likely Knull, appears to be leading the assault on our planet, and both Venom and Eddie will have to work together to survive. If you’re curious to see some new action from the third Venom movie, then you’ll want to check out a new commercial that ran on TV.

The “Future” TV spot for Venom: The Last Dance begins with the symbiote telling Eddie Brock, “Eddie, my home has found us.” We see the symbiotes hellhounds attacking Venom on top of an airplane in the sky that has appeared in previous Venom: The Last Dance trailers and teasers, along with the symbiote hivemind where Knull resides. The action then heads to an army base and a waterfall, with Venom making exaggerated facial expressions following each attack. There’s nothing like seeing a musclebound Venom cruising on a motorcycle while being chased by hungry symbiote creatures out for blood. You can take a look at the Venom: The Last Dance TV spot in the video below.

https://twitter.com/Venom3Verse/status/1842226430219808841

Is Venom: The Last Dance Tom Hardy’s final Venom movie?

Tom Hardy is sounding sentimental when it comes to the possibility of Venom: The Last Dance being the last time he stars as Venom. Hardy, while sharing the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance, seemed unequivocal about the idea that it’s time to wrap things up, saying that the movie will be “me and the big guy’s last outing.”

“Thank you for a great time – and seven years. I’ve had the best experience [Sony] working with Venom,” Hardy wrote in a social media post. “This is me and the big guy’s last outing, going out with a Bang!!! Come see us off – last in the trilogy and done.”  

Of course, Hardy could always change his tune in Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures worked out a way for Venom to make an appearance in Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars. Plus, we still haven’t gotten the long-awaited meeting between Venom and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Hopefully if given the opportunity, Hardy would sign back up to make that happen.

What is Venom: The Last Dance about?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. The film is directed by Kelly Marcel from a screenplay she wrote, based on a story by Hardy and Marcel. The movie opens in theaters on October 25th.

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In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Directed by Kelly Marcel, Venom: The Last Dance opens in theaters on October 25th.Barring some currently-unexpected development, it sounds like Venom star Tom Hardy is planning to make the upcoming, third installment of his antihero franchise the last time he bonds with his symbiote pal. Hardy, while sharing the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance, seemed unequivocal about the idea that it’s time to wrap things up, saying that the movie will be “me and the big guy’s last outing.” That, of course, may surprise some fans who expected the billion-dollar franchise to tie in with Avengers: Secret Wars in a few years or something like that.

(Of course, that could still happen if Hardy was talked into it. Given the relatively recent hiring of the screenwriters and filmmakers for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, it’s entirely possible most of the hoped-for cameos haven’t even been approached yet.)

“Thank you for a great time – and seven years. I’ve had the best experience [Sony] working with Venom,” Hardy wrote in part. “This is me and the big guy’s last outing, going out with a Bang!!! Come see us off – last in the trilogy and done.”

The promotion for the new movie has leaned heavily on the idea of a very permanent end to this Venom’s story, with “Til Death Do They Part” as a tagline. Since either a symbiote spawn or a piece of Venom was left behind in the main MCU universe, many have speculated that a new Venom could be cast for Marvel/Disney movies, in which he could serve as an antagonist to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.

Here’s the film’s (detail-light) official synopsis:

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Directed by Kelly Marcel, Venom: The Last Dance opens in theaters on October 25th.

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The Lethal Protector is showing off his monstrous teeth in a new poster for Venom: The Last Dance. The third movie in Sony Pictures’ Venom franchise is marketing itself as the end of the road for Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his alien symbiote. Whether that’s true or not, there is significant interest in Venom: The Last Dance, especially after its latest trailer dropped and teased the debut of Knull. Maybe once the movie comes out it opens the doors for Venom and Eddie Brock to cross over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In any event, we’re only a few weeks away from the release of Venom: The Last Dance, and there’s a new 4DX poster to show off.

The 4DX poster for Venom: The Last Dance comes courtesy of artist David Sauste. It features Venom descending from above, as tendrils from the alien symbiote extend from Venom’s arms and body. His signature elongated tongue and sharped teeth are at the ready, and the light reflecting off of Venom illuminates his body in a very unique way. It’s an example of the type of visual masterpiece awaits audiences when they sit down in the theater to watch Venom: The Last Dance in 4DX.

You can take a look at the full Venom: The Last Dance 4DX poster by David Sauste below.

What is Venom: The Last Dance about?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. The film is directed by Kelly Marcel from a screenplay she wrote, based on a story by Hardy and Marcel. The movie opens in theaters on October 25th.

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What if I told you there’s a way that Marvel’s Thunderbolts* movie can connect the worlds of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and Netflix’s street-level heroes, also known as the DefendersVerse. Marvel Studios has had plenty of success with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with other studios trying to replicate what works. After being in limbo, the list of Marvel heroes on Netflix – Daredevil and Punisher, for example – are being officially integrated into the MCU. Sony Pictures continues to build on its Spider-Man adjacent universe with Venom: The Last Dance, and even Deadpool is a part of the MCU following Deadpool & Wolverine. There is a lot riding on Thunderbolts*, but one thing it has the potential to do is connect all three of these worlds.

Thunderbolts* features a ragtag team of anti-heroes headlined by Yelena Belova and Winter Soldier. Numerous iterations of the Thunderbolts in the comics have operated outside the lines, hardly ever being considered traditional heroes like the Avengers. For example, their roots involve the villainous Baron Zemo gathering a group of bad guys and dressing them up as heroes. One era of Thunderbolts comics may have been overlooked by the general public, but it lays the groundwork for how characters from Thunderbolts*, Venom, and Deadpool could all work together on the big screen.

Red Hulk’s Thunderbolts, explained

Back in 2012, Marvel Comics debuted a new publishing initatived titled Marvel NOW! that saw all of its titles starting over with new #1 issues and creative teams. One of those titles was Thunderbolts by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon. Instead of being led by Baron Zemo or Norman Osborn, this Thunderbolts team was brought together by Red Hulk to function as a black ops team in a similar manner as X-Force. Red Hulk pulled out his gamma-radiated rolodex to recruit some heavy-hitters to the Thunderbolts: Deadpool, Punisher, Elektra, and Agent Venom (Flash Thompson).

Deadpool was a veteran of working on different X-Force teams, so he was an easy addition to the Thunderbolts. Venom may be seen as a full-fledged hero right now, but even when Flash Thompson was Agent Venom, the missions he underwent would leave you questioning if you really wanted to root for him. As for Punisher and Elektra, they definitely fell under the “morally grey” category. Under Red Hulk’s leadership, the Thunderbolts hit hard and left bodies in their wake, including Hulk nemesis Leader. Samuel Sterns would eventually join the team as Red Leader, with Ghost Rider also coming onboard before the team disbanded.

Since the Thunderbolts were led by Red Hulk, they took on his crimson color scheme. Deadpool and Elektra already wore red, but Agent Venom and Punisher switched out their white for red, making for a stylish upgrade if we do say so ourselves. As you can imagine, there was some tremendous friction on the Thunderbolts, mostly caused by Red Hulk’s machinations. While a romantic relationship formed between Punisher and Elektra, Punisher ultimately turned on the team when he quit and then was the subject of an assassination attempt that he thought was orchestrated by Red Hulk.

Future Thunderbolts* teams can include Deadpool, Venom, Punisher, and Elektra

If Thunderbolts* is a success, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to see Marvel Studios greenlighting a sequel. Though we may need an answer as to what the asterik in Thunderbolts* stands for first. In any case, we can cross our fingers and hope there’s a way for the superhero universes from Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures to crossover in a legitimate way. This means Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to appear in a movie next to Tom Hardy’s Venom, or for Venom to run into Anthony Mackie’s Captain America. If these types of meetings eventually take place, then we’re one step closer to Red Hulk’s Thunderbolts moving from the comics to the big and small screens.

Just imagine if we got a Thunderbolts movie starring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, Harrison Ford as Red Hulk, Elodie Yung reprising her Daredevil role as Elektra, and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher? A movie sporting this type of A-list talent could help audiences forget about the Avengers. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to have other franchises to help grow the MCU, just like the breakout hit that was the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. 

Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures, the ball is in your court.

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Two comic book events took over the top ten lists this past week: the release of Venom: The Last Dance’s final trailer and Marvel’s promotional partnership with Whatnot. The Venom trailer has created a massive boom in the aftermarket for a particular villain of darkness. While this new promotional sale has fans wondering about the future of comic books. Ironically, the outliers of this week’s Top Ten are The Outliers themselves! Scroll down to check out their first cover appearance!

Want to know what comic books are trending each week and why? COVRPRICE.COM uses live sales analytics to identify and compile the most robust market price guide, highlighting the weekly top trending comics. No opinions. Just data. Each week, they present a newly updated list of the TOP 10 COMICS trending in the aftermarket. These trends are due to rumors, fan-favorite covers, story-driven content, and content-related news.

1: VENOM #3 – RYAN STEGMAN – REGULAR | MARVEL | JUNE 2018: Last week, Sony released their final trailer for Venom: The Last Dance. The trailer focused heavily on the intergalactic nature of the film and highlighted top-tier Marvel Comics villain – Knull. There has been an alleged rumor floating around that Marvel was aiming to make a grounded Spider-Man 4 movie and that Sony wanted a multiversal film, including Knull and Venom. With the trailer drop, the latter theory now has more reason to be believed. Kevin Feige came out and said, “When we said we wanted Spider-Man to be more grounded, we just didn’t tell you that ground was from an alien planet in another universe.” However, neither studio has confirmed whether the King in Black will play a role in any future movies. While we’re waiting for more news on Knull, take time to look through your back issue bins at your LCS, as this book has been steadily dropping in price these past few years. As with most Sony-related books, buyers beware. They have not had the best track record at keeping their movie-related keys at top value! We tracked it at a high sale of $280 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM raw of $140. 

2: X-MEN ’97 #1 – ROB LIEFELD – WHATNOT – SEALED COMIC TRADING PACK BLIND BAG | MARVEL | SEPTEMBER 2024: In case you were unaware, Marvel Comics partnered with Whatnot to launch their Marvel Comic Trading Packs. There were four pack designs, with three random X-MEN ’97 #1 variants in each one. The pack designs were collaborations with renowned Marvel artists Ariel Olivetti, Rob Liefeld, Salvador Larroca, and Stephen Segovia. Based on tracking of each sealed pack and individual issue sales, Liefeld’s sealed pack design had the most traffic. When this marketing concept was announced, the fan base was divided on whether this would be good for comic books. However, the sales clearly show that the tactic was a success. Not only were the blind bags selling at record speeds, but they immediately were also trending in the aftermarket as well. This promotional run was only offered to a select few in the Whatnot community, but time will tell whether Marvel Comics will decide to offer these blind bags to your local comic shops as well. We tracked it at a high sale of $200 for an NM copy and a current NM raw of $188. Keep in mind that we track each individual cover and sealed mystery pack separately. So, overall, the volume of sales is much higher. Liefeld’s blind-back cover definitely seemed to capture the demand amongst all offerings. 

3: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #23 | MARVEL | JANUARY 2015: It is fair to say that the latest Venom: The Last Dance trailer would kick all related keys into high gear. This is an unexpected one to hit so high on the list: the first appearance of Klyntar (the symbiote planet). The trailer offers us a brief glimpse at Knull and his throne. Some fans speculate that this would be most of what we see of the symbiote planet, with the story mostly focusing on the invasion of Earth. While VENOM #3 has a larger buy-in, this book is an easier find and has a lower price, making it a top key to hunt down. We tracked it at a high sale of $100 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM raw of $17. 

4: VENOM #3 – RYAN STEGMAN – 3RD PRINT | MARVEL | JUNE 2018: While the first print of this issue is at the top of this list, don’t count out this third print! It may be lower on the list, but it is the 2nd most valuable reprint. The reason is that many believe it to be the first cover appearance of the God of Symbiotes. However, a less flattering first cover appearance occurs in the 2nd printing of VENOM #4, which was released before this issue. This issue is more attractive to collectors because the 3rd print had a low print run, making it that much harder to find. We tracked it at a high sale of $400 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM raw of $165.

5: THOR: GOD OF THUNDER #6 – ESAD RIBIC – REGULAR | MARVEL | MARCH 2013: This book saw a significant bump when Thor: Love and Thunder announced Gorr the God Butcher as the main villain. After the lackluster reception of this film, this book took a nosedive and rarely makes an appearance. Aside from being the origin of Gorr, this book also harbors another key, a Knull cameo. This cameo is why we see this book trending on the aftermarket again. We tracked it at a high sale of $180 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM raw of $57. 

6: VENOM #4 | MARVEL | JULY 2018: By now, you’ll have an idea of where this list is going, and while Knull may not succeed in conquering Earth in Venom: The Last Dance, he certainly has conquered this Top Ten list! This book features the origins of Knull and the creation of Knowhere through the severing of a celestial head. In this issue, we see how Knull created his planet of symbiotes. We also get a nice full art page of Miles Morales punching Knull right on the jaw. This artwork is used for the second printing of this book and could be considered Knull’s first cover appearance. Regardless, this book tells a great origin story for the titular villain. We tracked it at a high sale of $72 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM raw of $14. 

7: VENOM #3 – MOLINA (1:25) | MARVEL | JUNE 2018: Fans of Jorge Molina and Venom are flooding the aftermarket to pick up this issue. This was the retailer incentive for VENOM #3 and it is now one of the harder variants to track down. The raw NM value of this book is nearly twice the amount of Cover A. It is likely this book could trend higher if it was easier to find and more affordable. For the time being, it looks like this book will be going to the avid comic book hunter who is willing to pay a decent price for a Venom key. We tracked it at a high sale of $385 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM raw of $223.

8: VENOM #3 – SKAN – FRANKIE’S COMICS / GOLDEN APPLE COMICS | MARVEL | JUNE 2018: Another popular Venom artist is Skan, and his variant of Knull’s first appearance has been making aftermarket waves. This book was a collaborative store exclusive with Frankie’s Comics and Golden Apple Comics. The book also has a virgin variant version, but it seems that the trade copy is much easier to find. We tracked it at a high sale of $125 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM raw of $63.

9: VENOM #3 – 2ND PRINT | MARVEL | JUNE 2018: All VENOM #3 books are currently hot commodities. While this book is lower on the list, it still has had a ton of sales growth in the past few days since the trailer debuted. Even though it is not the most popular reprint of issue #3, it still holds value for collectors of Knull. We tracked it at a high sale of $95 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM raw of $51.

10: UNCANNY X-MEN #1 – DAVID MARQUEZ – 2ND PRINT (1:25) | MARVEL | SEPTEMBER 2024: While the X-Men seem to still be on the back burner over at the MCU, the comics have been releasing great content. In the latest release, UNCANNY X-MEN #1 introduced us to a new mutant team, The Outliers. In true comic book fashion, a request for help is misunderstood, and a battle ensues. Once the confusion is cleared, the X-Men will welcome the new super team. This second printing retailer incentive is the first cover appearance of that team. As we’ve seen in all these Knull keys, second prints and cover appearances are top-tier collector items! We tracked it at a high sale of $150 for an NM copy and a current NM raw of $132.

The post Top 10 Comic Books Rising in Value in the Last Week Include X-Men and a Lot of Venom appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The inclusion of Knull in Venom: The Last Dance has some repercussions for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The third chapter in Sony Pictures’ Venom franchise hasn’t officially said who its big villain is, but there was a menacing figure who certainly looked like Knull in the last trailer for Venom: The Last Dance. Knull is a semi-recent addition to the Marvel Universe, but he has a backstory that dates back to its early beginnings while also tying to some recognizable heroes. If Knull really is in Venom: The Last Dance, then it could open the floodgates to even more synergy between Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and the MCU.

Knull debuted in 2018’s Venom #4 as the main villain Ryan Stegman and Donny Cates were building up to in their relaunch of the series. Called the “King in Black,” Knull loomed in the background before fully making his presence known, culminating in the King in Black event series that concluded with Eddie Brock and Venom defeating Knull and taking on the King in Black moniker. One of the heroes to fight alongside Venom in King in Black was Thor, the God of Thunder. Many fans may not realize it, but Thor also has a history with Knull and one of the weapons he helped forge.

Knull’s connection to Thor explained

Writer Jason Aaron began his celebrated run on Thor by introducing Gorr the God Butcher, the primary villain in Thor: Love and Thunder. While Thor had Mjolnir by his side, Gorr brandished All-Black the Necrosword, a blade made of living darkness that flowed and behaved very similar to a symbiote. Gorr and the Necrosword appeared to be one and the same, but it became clear later on that the Necrosword corrupted Gorr, partly responsible for sending him down the evil path of wanting to murder all of the living gods.

Remember how we said that the Necrosword had some of the same qualities as a symbiote? The reason for this is because the Necrosword is a symbiote. The story behind that is Donny Cates, co-creator of Knull, was a big fan of what Jason Aaron was doing with Thor. So when it came time to explore Knull’s origin, he found a creative way to tie it to the God of Thunder. Knull created All-Black the Necrosword to sever the head of a Celestial, which ultimately became Knowhere from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. So not only was Thor up against Gorr, but he also had to contend with his living symbiote sword.

The Necrosword has also made an appearance in the MCU, though not with Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher. When Cate Blanchett played Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, her primary weapon of choice was Necroswords. It remains to be seen if Knull will bring a Necrosword with him in Venom: The Last Dance.

Will Knull show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Sony’s Spider-Man Universe is still waiting to catch up to the popularity of the MCU. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has yet to appear in any of the Venom movies, Morbius, or even Madame Web. Sony has decided to build its connected universe with Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, focusing on the web-slinger’s enemies. However, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a little bit of cross synergy between the two studios.

For example, Michael Keaton’s Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming made a cameo appearance in Morbius, as they plotted a potential team-up against Spider-Man. Also, the post-credits scenes in Venom: Let There Be Carnage transported Venom to the MCU just in time to see Peter Parker exposed as Spider-Man to the entire world in Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s post-credits scene. This was followed up in Spider-Man: No Way Home, with Venom sent back to his world and a piece of the Venom symbiote left behind in the MCU.

So while MCU fans may want to see a showdown between Thor and Knull, the likelihood of that happening remains slim for now. You would think Sony wants to incorporate Spider-Man into its universe first before worrying about how Knull fits into the MCU. We have to see Spider-Man vs. Venom before we worry about the larger crossover implications.

What is Venom: The Last Dance about?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Directed by Kelly Marcel, Venom: The Last Dance opens in theaters on October 25th.

The post How Knull Could Connect Venom to Thor and the MCU appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The ComicBook Nation crew discuss the MCU news that Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is directing Spider-Man 4 and break down the first reactions to The Batman spinoff series The Penguin, as well as the upcoming film Transformers One. 

PLUS: A review of the new horror-thriller Speak No Evil and reactions to the final trailer for Venom: The Last Dance. 

Transformers One Reaction

Here’s what ComicBook Nation – Anime Initiative host Evan Valentine had to say about his 4-star review of Transformers One: 

I would be remiss by not calling this the best Transformers film since the 1980s animated film. If this is the future of the Transformers franchise, then Autobot and Decepticons fans have a bright future to look forward to indeed.

Speak No Evil Review

Here’s what ComicBook Nation host Kofi Outlaw said in his 4-star review of Speak No Evil: 

Even with some groan-worthy moments of contrivance, it’s hard to remember the last time a horror-thriller film has been executed as well, with as many strong performances, as Speak No Evil. It’s another showcase of McAvoy’s immense talent for creating unnerving characters (see also: Split), and a strong endorsement that James Watkins may have found his best lane as a horror filmmaker.

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The final trailer for Venom: The Last Dance shocked Marvel fans when it revealed that the big bad of the threequel will be Knull, the God of the symbiotes. The Venom 3 trailer only gave us the barest glimpse of Knull, with his head bent and that signature white hair hanging in front of his face. We can’t know for sure which actor is playing Knull, but there are a few educated guesses floating around. 

Who Is Rhys Ifans Playing in Venom 3? 

One major standout of the final trailer for Venom: The Last Dance was a shot of Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy) hitchhiking his way into a van filled with hippies, including Rhys Ifans, who is seen both strumming a guitar in song, and giving Eddie profound advice about how “There comes a time in every man’s life…”. 

Some fans have taken Ifans’ appearance in Venom: The Last Dance to be a tease that the actor is reprising his role as Curt Connors/The Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man. It’s hard to believe that theory, though: Ifans’ character is seen strumming a guitar with two hands – so if he is Curt Connors, then he seems to have successfully regrown his missing arm and left his Lizard days behind him. That would be an odd callback to throw at fans – but then again, casting Ifans in Venom: The Last Dance is already an oddly conspicuous choice for Sony to make (see also: adding Doctor Strange actor Chiwetel Ejiofor to the cast). 

Rhys Ifans returning as Curt Connors seems unlikely; fans have already checked the captions on the scene, which show Ifans’ character to be named “Martin.” So unless Connors is traveling incognito to ahead his felonious past, it’s probably a different character. But that doesn’t mean his appearance is just bait for Spider-Man fans… 

Venom 3: Who Is Playing Knull?

The other theory is that Rhys Ifans is playing Knull and that the scene of the actor strumming guitar in a van is just misdirection, with the God of the Symbiotes taking on human form to approach Eddie Brock/Venom before their inevitable super-powered showdown. It could also be the case that the film changes Knull, making the villain a super-symbiote looking for a host – and Rhys Ifans’ hippie ends up being that host. Judging from the shot of Knull in the trailer, it may be Rhy Ifans under that white-haired wig and makeup. 

Other than the Rhys Ifans theory, there’s not much to go on in terms of who could be playing Knull in Venom: The Last Dance. If the movie does change the villain into being a symbiote possessing a host, then Chiwetel Ejiofor’s soldier character could also be a possibility. 

If Venom: The Last Dance honors the comic book history of Knull, and the villain is played by a different actor, then maybe we have a surprise cameo coming our way. 

Venom: The Last Dance has a release date of October 25th. 

The post Venom: The Last Dance: Who Is Playing Knull? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

The creators of Knull weren’t aware that the King in Black was going to be in Venom: The Last Dance. The Marvel villain has quickly become one of the publisher’s most popular characters. A lot of this comes down to his unique visual design and his lore tied to symbiotes. After appearing in various media like video games (Marvel Snap, Marvel Contest of Champions), Knull is set to be the main villain in Venom: The Last Dance, the third film in Sony Pictures’ Venom trilogy. Venom: The Last Dance gave fans a quick glimpse of Knull, which came as a surprise to the villain’s creators.

Artist Ryan Stegman and writer Donny Cates are the creators of Knull, and they were just as surprised as fans when he seemingly appeared in the Venom: The Last Dance trailer. “Yes, I did co-create Knull. No, I didn’t know until today that he was gonna be in Venom: The Last Dance. Yes, I do expect to finally be able to afford that lazy river moat around my house,” Ryan Stegman wrote on X (formerly Twitter). The replies to his post join in on the “lazy river moat” joke referring to how much (or how little) Marvel creators make when their creations are adapted into other media.

Donny Cates also got some jokes off, writing, “You guys, I just had the weirdest dream….,” and following that up with the word “MONEY” written in the Venom logo font. It’s worth mentioning that Knull has not officially been confirmed for Venom: The Last Dance, but if this is going to be the last Venom movie for the time being, there’s no better way to go out than by battling the King in Black.

Who is playing Knull in Venom: The Last Dance

While the actor playing Knull hasn’t been confirmed, the cast list for Venom: The Last Dance includes Rhys Ifans, who looks a lot like the Knull we quickly saw in the Venom 3 trailer. Ifans is no stranger to taking on comic book roles, having also portrayed Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. 

What is Venom: The Last Dance about?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Directed by Kelly Marcel, Venom: The Last Dance opens in theaters on October 25th.

The post Venom: The Last Dance: Knull Creators “Didn’t Know” Marvel Character Was in Sony Sequel appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Venom: The Last Dance’s latest clip hints that the Sony Marvel movie might end up closing the loop on an MCU plot thread. Tom Hardy and Venom are back for one last ride and maybe it can open the door to that showdown with Spider-Man. The trailer shows both the humans in the Sony Marvel universe and Knull, a symbiote deity, trying to get a hold of Venom. If the villain gets Eddie Brock’s best friend, it will be the end of his world. However, there’s one little quirk that should prove to be a problem for Knull, all of Venom isn’t in that reality.

2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home concluded with Peter Parker all on his own. Tom Holland’s Avenger is staring down some serious loneliness now that he has no friends. In addition, we know the Venom symbiote is just crawling across the MCU looking for him as it had a relationship with other Peter Parkers in the multiverse. This is all going to bring him into direct conflict with both Eddie Brock and Knull. If the villain succeeds at the end of the new Venom movie, he’ll set his sights on the MCU to get the remaining symbiote to rule over every reality.

Spider-Man 4 Director Announcement Comes Into Focus

Earlier this week it was reported that Marvel Studios and Sony had tabbed Dustin Daniel Cretton to helm Spider-Man 4. Tom Holland is set to return as Peter Parker in the first movie of his new tenure with Marvel. Picking the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings seems like a curious choice. After all, he’s already got chunky too and Naruto on his plate headed into 2025. But, if Knull is the main villain of the movie, Spider-Man’s probably going to need some help.

Having Shang-Chi, and possibly Captain Marvel, there to lend a helping hand at his lowest point would satisfy the Marvel fans that feel like these heroes haven’t gotten a chance to meet each other yet. In addition, it sets the table for more multiversal villains to get on their Avengers’ radar ahead of Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Maybe most importantly, It helps kick off the black suit saga for the inevitable moment in Secret Wars where Reed Richards helps Spider-Man revert back to his old costume.

A popular tweet from Alex Perez over at My Cosmic Circus seems to argue that Knull isn’t going to be a one-and-done villain for Sony’s projects. So, we’ll have to see how that shakes out. If Knull is really going around universes taking Symbiotes, you could have the motivation for Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man variants to enter the fray again as well. (Poor Peter 3’s first tussle with aliens could result in his world ending!)

Spider-Man 4 Tapping Into The Multiverse Again

Not to kick up the dust from old fandom wars at this point, but these developments would lend credence to the idea that Sony liked the idea of Spider-Man 4 as a multiverse adventure. Knull is a big enough deal in the comics to be an “Avengers-level threat.” So, summoning multiple Spider-Men and these other MCU heroes isn’t all that far-fetched. In addition, get ready for this scale of spectacle in the Marvel movies with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom just lurking around. 

It’s been a phase and a half of Marvel movies with a significant number of online commenters asking where the Avengers have been. No, it’s not the street-level story focusing on Daredevil and a street war against Kingpin. (Yes, we know that is a popular pick for what people argue for Spider-Man 4 being. But, the tea leaves are murky at best on what the plan is at this point.) This route would give you a rollicking battle with all the Avengers ready for things to hit the fan during the later conflicts.

Also, Spider-Man: No Way Home’s big post-credits scene gets paid off in wild fashion that would cross that cliffhanger off the list. People going to these movies have been waiting to see Venom fight Spider-Man and they might be closer to that reality than they could have possibly dreamed. Tom Hardy has been pushing for it himself and with the multiverse wide open, it’s time for the back suit saga to get a little twist.

Do you think Knull will be in Spider-Man 4? Check out all the pop culture conversation at @ComicBook!

The post Venom the Last Dance: New Trailer Teases MCU Payoff appeared first on ComicBook.com.

King in Black. Lord of the Abyss. God of the Symbiotes. He is Knull, the dark god and progenitor of the symbiotic alien race spawned from the blackness of the Living Abyss: the Klyntar. Billions of years before Spider-Man’s alien costume bonded with Peter Parker and then Eddie Brock as its host, the symbiote was part of a symbiote hive mind — and its master is making his first live-action appearance in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. 

As shown in the new Venom 3 trailer, Tom Hardy’s Lethal Protector will have his Last Dance when Venom’s homeworld threatens Eddie’s as Knull leads an alien invasion that could potentially spill over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But who is Knull and how will he enter the SSU? Just as the symbiote gave Eddie a taste of 80 billion light-years of hive knowledge across universes in 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage — where they were briefly pulled through the multiverse and into the MCU — here’s what to know about the villain before Venom: The Last Dance waltzes into theaters on October 25th.

Knull first appeared in 2018’s Venom #3 by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, although issue #4 of that same series tied his origin to a 2013 issue of Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder. (That series revealed that Knull’s first born — his god-slaying living blade, All-Black the Necrosword — was taken by Gorr the God Butcher.) During the primordial stages of space, Knull’s abyss was bathed in light when the Celestials Arishem, Jemiah, and Ziran — god-like cosmic beings as ancient as space and time itself — birthed the Seventh Cosmos, a.k.a. the prime Marvel Universe known as Earth-616. He forged All-Black from the fires of a fallen Celestial, explaining why the proto-symbiote’s spawn have an aversion to fire.

Symbiosis began on Gorr’s homeworld, where the black-armored god dwelled for a century. His hunger manifesting as black tendrils, Knull bonded his Living Abyss with lesser creatures to survive, allowing him to draw on the host’s strength and pilot their forms as new vessels. Knull became the god-host of the symbiote hive mind, and his horde spread darkness across the galaxy with his swarm of winged Grendels: symbiote dragons.

During the dark centuries, Knull came to Earth in Scandinavia, where his symbiote army was thwarted by Thor, the god of thunder. With his connection to his children severed by the Asgardian, Knull’s swarm unraveled, and the symbiotes sought new hosts who infected the symbiote hive like a parasitic infection — like a venom. After spawning millions of symbiotes untethered from his control, Knull was consumed by the Abyss and drowned in darkness.

Knull’s symbiotes became the Klyntar — not a symbiote planet as once believed, but their word for “cage.” In his first appearance, Knull sought the missing pieces of his Grendel to free him from his prison, and he told Eddie Brock and Miles Morales that he would finish what he began eons ago: rid his dark kingdom of light by destroying Earth.

Cates and Stegman’s Marvel Universe-spanning King in Black storyline saw Knull unleash his symbiote army on the planet, an invasion that brought together Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Doctor Strange and the Avengers to stop it. Knull killed Eddie, but the Silver Surfer — who once battled the God-King of the Symbiotes at the dawn of time — resurrected him with the Enigma Force, a cosmic entity born of light.

As the temporary God of Light, Venom defeated the All Black-wielding Knull. “The void is eternal,” Knull told Eddie/Venom. “The darkness has teeth.” But so does Venom, who ended Knull’s reign as the King in Black by burning him to death in the Sun. Knull’s death freed the symbiote hive, and Eddie Brock became the host of the symbiote hive mind as the god of the symbiotes: the new King in Black.

The post Who Is Knull, the Villain of Venom: The Last Dance? appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Venom: The Last Dance’s brand-new trailer has already begun placing breadcrumbs for Spider-Man and Eddie Brock to cross paths again. Tom Hardy’s anti-hero is back in his Sony Marvel universe. A lot of this trailer is spent teasing the end of the road for Venom and Brock’s partnership. But, that split would mean that Hardy might watch his friend sacrifice everything to save the world and keep him safe. If he’s unsatisfied with that end, it might be up to Brock to find another way to reunite with Venom. The only real path forward would be to go find a piece of the symbiote he left in the MCU.

Things have changed since Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Venom is being pursued by the “god of the symbiotes”, Knull. The villain needs Eddie’s best friend to complete his conquest of this world and everyone’s favorite Lethal Protector has to avoid getting captured. Over the course of today’s trailer, Venom takes a beating from rival monsters and humans alike. By the time the confrontation with Knull occurs, the deity might be too much for the symbiote to overcome. There would be no choice left but for Venom to sacrifice itself to save Brock and his adoptive home. Of course, Hardy’s character would be crushed about this.

Then, things would get interesting. Even if Knull succeeds at getting a hold of Venom, he will not have claimed the entirety of the symbiote. In the same way Eddie Brock will also have a path to getting a reunion with his friend because there’s still a bit of the black goop left in the MCU. Some fans might have forgotten but Spider-Man’s world still has a segment of the symbiote skulking around. At the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Eddie is transported back from that weird bar that he’s been sitting in for the entire runtime of the movie and leaves behind a little gift for Tom Holland’s Web-Slinger. We could be on the way to a Venom and Spidey showdown.

The Venom Series Has Been Teasing A Spider-Man Crossover For A While

Since the first Venom movie proved to be a smash hit, fans have been asking whether a Spider-Man crossover is in the works. Series star Tom Hardy and Andy Serkis have done little to quiet those questions in their time with this universe. Before Venom: Let There Be Carnage hit theaters, Serkis talked to IGN about a possible crossover. “Look, that’s the question on everyone’s lips,” the director explained. “They want to know if Venom is gonna meet Spider-Man, but personally, it’s never gonna happen. I’m only joking, of course it’s gonna happen…” We’re now closer than ever to that fateful meetup.

“Look, it depends when you want to get there, and also, what the appetite is,” Serkis explains. “If people want more Venom stories, then, to jump straight to Spider-Man, you could be missing out on so many great supervillain characters in between now and then. So, in a way, by rushing to it, you might be closing the door.”

Of course, Serkis also knew his film would have a post-credits scene that directly teased a confrontation between these two characters. They didn’t directly meet in Spider-Man: No Way Home. That film laid all the groundwork and now, it seems like Venom: The Last Dance is doing the same. So, Tom Holland better get in the gym, because Spider-Man 4 could really feature that knockdown, dragout battle that fans have been waiting for.

Do you think Spider-Man 4 will feature Venom? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

The post Venom the Last Dance: New Trailer Sets up Spider-Man Meeting appeared first on ComicBook.com.

Marvel fans get the first look at live-action Knull in the latest trailer for Venom: The Last Dance. The final chapter in Sony Pictures’ Venom trilogy is bringing out the creator of the symbiotes for Tom Hardy and the Lethal Protector to face off with. We’ve seen Venom tangle with the Life Foundation and its symbiote Riot in the 2018 film, with its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, introducing the psychotic serial killer Cletus Kasady / Carnage. The third Venom movie is teasing an end to the symbiote saga, and what better way to go out than by having the King in Black invade Earth.

Around the 50-second mark in the Venom: The Last Dance trailer offers our first look at Knull. Eddie Brock asks Venom who sent one of the symbiotes after them, with Venom replying, “My creator.” We see a hive of symbiotes all surrounding a mysterious figure who appears to be sitting on a throne. While their identity is somewhat hidden, the long white hair and taloned fingers suggest that it’s Knull, the King in Black and creator of the symbiotes. Eddie asks what’s his name, with Venom shushing Eddie and wrapping a tendril around his mouth to keep him from uttering Knull’s name.

Who is Knull?

Knull was created by Ryan Stegman and Donny Cates, and made his comics debut in 2018’s Venom #4. Part of the duo’s run on Venom involved expanding the Lethal Protector’s mythos, setting up Knull as the “Big Bad” of their multiple story arcs. Knull actually has connections to the very beginnings of the Marvel Universe, and has crossed paths with figures such as the Celestials, Silver Surfer, Ego the Living Planet, and Thor. 

One of Marvel’s big crossover events, King in Black, saw Knull and his symbiotes invade Earth. Eddie Brock and Venom ultimately defeated Knull, with Eddie taking on the King in Black mantle. One of the lead-ups to King in Black was Absolute Carnage, which saw Venom team up with the Avengers to battle a much deadlier Carnage.

Who is playing Knull in Venom: The Last Dance

While the actor playing Knull hasn’t been confirmed, the cast list for Venom: The Last Dance includes Rhys Ifans, who looks a lot like the Knull we quickly saw in the Venom 3 trailer. Ifans is no stranger to taking on comic book roles, having also portrayed Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. 

What is Venom: The Last Dance about?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Directed by Kelly Marcel, Venom: The Last Dance opens in theaters on October 25th.

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It’s time to giddy-up for the ride of Venom: The Last Dance. On Thursday morning, Sony Pictures officially released the second trailer for the highly-anticipated new film, ahead of its theatrical debut in October.

The latest film in Sony’s Venom franchise, Venom: The Last Dance already released its first trailer earlier this year, briefly breaking the Internet for its wacky scenarios and “Venom horse.” While a lot of plot details surrounding the film remain under wraps, fans can safely assume some wild adventures for Eddie Brock / Venom (Tom Hardy).

What Is Venom: The Last Dance About?

In Venom: The Last Dance, Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. The film is directed by Kelly Marcel from a screenplay she wrote, based on a story by Hardy and Marcel. The film is produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, Kelly Marcel, Tom Hardy and Hutch Parker.

Will There Be a Fourth Venom Movie?

The subtitle The Last Dance has naturally led to the question of whether or not another Venom movie will be in the cards, especially given the financial success of the previous films. Hardy has heavily hinted that the film will be his last foray as the character, with Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman also confirming it will be the final film.

“These things [usually] come in threes,” Hardy explained in a previous interview with Digital Spy. “If there’s going to be a new one – and they depend heavily on the success of each individual one, so you can’t count on them ever happening again – every one has got to be as if it was the last one. But I think it’s really important, if you go into something, thinking that one, two and three are the same… the same story, the same film. So that you don’t surprise yourself by being caught out by suddenly having to do a third from nowhere. There’s got to be some continuity into a third and fourth and fifth, and if somebody says ‘no’, that’s fine. Let it go, and you move on to something else.”

Venom: The Last Dance will be released exclusively in theaters on October 25th.

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Venom is going for the three-peat this fall. After being a surprise hit franchise for Sony, Tom Hardy’s Venom films have established themselves as steady box office performers and genuine romps for movie fans. Venom: The Last Dance is the third installment in the series, and it’s set to hit theaters just before Halloween, on October 25th. To start ramping up the advertising efforts, Sony has revealed some new footage from the upcoming Marvel sequel, in addition to announcing the release date of its final full trailer.

The Venom social media accounts shared a short teaser on Sunday night, offering about 30 seconds of footage from The Last Dance (some new, some previously released). The posts also confirmed that the final trailer would be released on Thursday, September 12th. You can check out the new teaser below!

While we now know what day the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance is dropping, there hasn’t been any word about what time of day to expect it. So anyone on the lookout for the trailer will need to keep their eyes peeled.

What Is Venom: The Last Dance About?

As the title indicates, this movie will be the final adventure for Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and his Symbiote counterpart. The duo of Eddie and the Symbiote will be forced to put the bond they’ve worked so hard to build on the line, to potentially save the rest of the planet.

You can check out Sony’s official synopsis for Venom: The Last Dance below!

“In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one ofMarvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in thetrilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worldsand with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastatingdecision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s lastdance.”

Venom: The Last Dance stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, JunoTemple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach and Stephen Graham. KellyMarcel, who co-wrote the previous Venom, directs the third installment from a screenplay she wrote, which was based on idea she and Hardy came up with together. In addition to serving as the star and writer/director of the new Venom, Hardy and Marcel also produce alongside Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal, and Hutch Parker.

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The ComicBook Nation crew previews the Fall TV and Movie schedules and share their hype levels for some of the most highly anticipated releases! There’s also a review and discussion of The Crow reboot starring Bill Skarsgård!

PLUS: Deep-dive discussion about the status of Star Wars after The Acolyte‘s cancelation, and a debate about Marvel’s Blade reboot and what kind of film it should be.

The Crow Reboot Review

This is what ComicBook Nation host Kofi Outlaw had to say in his 2-star review of The Crow:

Under the direction of Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) and the genuine effort made by stars Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs, The Crow isn’t a total failure – but it is a messy mismatch of high-art aspirations and bloody, brutal, B-movie action-horror. It’s both vibrantly alive with creative spark and passion – and a listless, muddled attempt at telling a cinematic story.

…It’s not impossible that, despite its flaws, The Crow will follow the path of the original and grow into a cult hit in years to come. If nothing else, it’s one of the biggest showcases yet of Bill Skarsgård’s potential as a leading man (and not just the lineup of odd creatures and/or creeps he’s played). But, after more than a decade of trying to get this reboot off the ground – and all the creative talent that’s been attached to it along the way – it’s almost amusing that middling effort is the end result.

FALL PREVIEW 

MOVIES

• BEETLEJUICE 2 (9/6)
• TRANSFORMERS ONE (9/13)
• THE WILD ROBOT (9/20)
• JOKER 2 (10/4)
• VENOM 3 (10/25)
• RED ONE (11/15)
• GLADIATOR 2 (11/22)
• MOANA 2 (11/27)
• WICKED PT. 1 (11/27)

TV

• RINGS OF POWER S2 (8/29 – Prime Video)
• TERMINATOR: ZERO (8/29 – NETFLIX)
• PENGUIN (9/19 – HBO)
• AGATHA ALL ALONG (9/18 – Disney+)
• ZACK SNYDER’s TWILIGHT OF THE GODS (9/19 – Netflix)
• CITADEL: DIANA (10/10 – Prime Video)
• CITADEL: HONEY BUNNY (11/7 – Prime Video)
• SILO SEASON 2 (11/15 – Apple TV+)
• JAMES WAN’S TEACUP (10/10 – Peacock)
• LIKE A DRAGON: YAKUZA (10/24 – Prime Video)
• STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW (12/3 – Disney+) 
• KOFI: ST. DENIS MEDICAL – IMAGE
• MATT: MATLOCK – IMAGE 

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