Ever since Venom first flickered into life, rumors began to mount that Carnage would be the main antagonist of the film. Quite frankly, it would be incredibly stupid if he wasn’t. Considering how both characters’ histories are so closely tied together, it can only be a matter of time before we see Cletus Kasady’s symbiote menacing it up on the cinema screen with his big daddy, right? Well, maybe not.
To date, we still haven’t seen any sign of the character in Venom and as far as we know, the studio hasn’t even cast the role yet. Many people thought Riz Ahmed might be stepping into Cletus’ shoes, but he’s officially listed as playing Dr. Carlton Drake, head of the nefarious Life Foundation. True to Ruben Fleischer’s original promise, this indicates that Venom will indeed take cues from the Lethal Protector comic series, after all, perhaps incorporating five other symbiotes – namely Scream, Phage, Riot, Lasher and Agony – into its mysterious story.
But circling back to Carnage, without an actor in the role and no sign of him in any promotional material, we can’t say for certain that he’ll even be in the film. We imagine he will be though, and if a new report from That Hashtag Show is to be trusted, Carnage is definitely set to appear, but not until the very end. As always, we advise taking this with a pinch of salt, but THS believes they know exactly how the character factors into things. Be warned, though, minor spoilers will follow from here on out.
Still with us? Good, because this is pretty interesting. THS has heard from their sources that Carnage won’t actually be in the main body of the movie. Instead, he’ll show up either near the very end or in a post-credits scene, where Eddie Brock finds himself in San Quentin prison.
Also there is Cletus Kasady, who’s under the care of Dr. Ashley Kafka, who introduces the two men but warns Brock not to get too close. He heeds her warning, but right before the screen cuts to black, we see part of Eddie’s symbiote start to make its way towards Cletus. And just like that, Carnage is set up as the main villain for the inevitable sequel.
As for who could play the character, like we said above, he’s yet to be cast, but as THS points out, Woody Harrelson’s role was never formally revealed and he hasn’t appeared in any set pics to date. Could he be taking on the part, then? Perhaps, but we’ll have to wait until Venom slithers into theaters on October 5th to find out for sure.
