8 Burning Questions We Have After Watching Venom

Venom hit theaters this week and it's fair to say it's got folks talking. Critics reacted savagely to the movie, with some calling it one of the worst superhero films in years. Audiences have responded much more positively, however, though some have still lamented the changes it makes to the iconic Spider-Man villain. Whatever your opinion on Venom, you have to concede that it does leave us with a lot of questions by the time the credits roll. With a relatively lean runtime of 1 hour and 50 minutes, the movie doesn't get the chance to fully explore character motivations, the mythology it establishes or build up its world as much as we might like. As such, it's left to fans to try to fill in the gaps and make sense of the things that don't make sense in the movie itself. On that note, here are 8 burning questions that we're asking after watching Venom. If you have answers to these queries or you have any additional questions yourself, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section down below. So Did The Life Foundation Find The Symbiotes Or Did They Come To Earth Willingly? Venom kicks off with The Life Foundation's spaceship crashing in Malaysia with the symbiotes captured onboard. Dora Skirth later explains to Brock that the ship came across the symbiotes on an asteroid and Drake decided to bring them back to study them. Towards the end of the film, though, it's revealed that Riot plans to bring the rest of the symbiotes to Earth to conquer it. So, which is the correct turn of events? Presumably, the symbiotes that the Foundation found let themselves be captured by Drake's goons so that they could be taken to Earth, giving them a fresh new supply of hosts to feed on. Drake, however, didn't know he was being played until he was possessed by Riot himself. At which point he apparently decided to go along with their plan to wipe out humanity for some reason. We're not really clear on that part. The flaw in this explanation, however, is that it doesn't explain how Drake's already an expert on symbiotes before they've even landed on Earth. Perhaps his astronauts gave him some data on the creatures that helped him understand what they were? Otherwise, it's vaguely possible he had prior contact with the symbiotes - though that seems pretty unlikely. What Was The Daily Globe Incident That Led Brock To San Francisco? When we first meet Eddie Brock, he's already washed up once. Though he used to host The Eddie Brock Report, a hard-hitting news show, he doesn't do this any longer for unknown reasons and has wound up as a reporter for a network in San Francisco, being offered assignments that eat into his credibility. So, what happened to Eddie's flourishing career? While he's on a date with Anne, she casually mentions the "Daily Globe incident" that caused Brock to move to San Fran. And those who know their Venom history might know what this is referencing. In the comics, Eddie conducted an interview with the Sin Eater serial killer for The Daily Globe, a rival paper to The Daily Bugle. When Spidey captured the real Sin Eater though, Brock's subject was revealed to be a fraud and he became a laughing stock. He lost his career, too, which started him on the downward spiral that resulted in him becoming Venom. Director Ruben Fleischer has suggested that this incident has already played out before the film opens - presumably without Spidey's role in proceedings, though. Why Is Venom A Loser Among His Own Kind? Venom might like to munch on the odd human head now and again but, when push comes to shove, the symbiote ultimately decides to save humanity when Riot plans to bring a legion of his kind back to Earth to wipe out the human race. The change of heart isn't delved into too much, but Venom does open up to Eddie enough to admit that it's seen as "kind of a loser" among the symbiotes, just as Eddie is among his peers. We don't get an explanation for why Venom isn't allowed to play reindeer games with the other symbiotes, but the suggestion is that its more heroic nature is what makes it an outcast. This is sort of true, as it appears that this revelation is drawn from the comics. In Planet of the Symbiotes - one of the two storylines that influenced the movie - Venom is imprisoned by its own people when it suggests they should protect and bond with their hosts for life instead of living off them like parasites. It's possible this is something that will be explored further in the sequel. Despite the appearance of numerous symbiotes, Venom doesn't offer a great deal of explanation about their origins or motivations - nor does it even give them their proper name from the comics, the Klyntar. How Does The Symbiote Survive? Having decided to go all out on the hero front, Venom apparently disintegrates in the explosion caused by the destroyed rocket and it was earlier explained that fire's fatal to symbiotes. However, it's soon revealed that it actually managed to survive when we hear its voice speaking to Eddie while he's chatting to Anne on her doorstep some time later. So, how exactly did Venom survive? I mean, we even heard it saying a heartfelt goodbye to Eddie before it burned up. Well, though the film doesn't offer an explanation for this, the comics do, so it's not too hard to work out. It's established in the source material that symbiotes are tricky beings to kill as if even a piece of them survives they can regenerate. So, despite appearances, it would seem that one itty bitty piece of Venom made it out of the blast in tact and once again bonded with Eddie. This also begs the question of whether Riot got out of that, too. The inference is that it didn't, though, as Carlton Drake and his symbiote were trapped in the rocket itself, with no escape, when it was destroyed. And Is It Still Killing Eddie? The end of the movie presents the reunion of this odd couple as a happy thing - but is it really? Earlier on in the film, it was revealed by Anne's nice doctor boyfriend that the symbiote was slowly killing Eddie. When he discovers this, he falls out with the creature. Yet once they've become pals, Brock seems to have no problem bonding with Venom again. One possible explanation here is that Dr. Lewis didn't properly understand what was happening to Eddie's body. When he suggests the symbiote's killing him, Venom refutes this and tells Eddie he's wrong. It might actually be telling the truth here, too, as the rest of the film presents both Venom and Riot mending their hosts' broken bodies. Yes, Riot leaves its hosts for dead when it wants, but that may be a product of its evil nature. Seeing as Venom cares for Eddie, it may be repairing the damage it's doing to his system. Tom Hardy has said that there's at least 40 minutes of material cut from the theatrical version of the movie, too - which he counts as his personal favorite parts of the film - so maybe there's something in there that better clarifies this plot point? So Venom's Completely Tamed Now? For the majority of Venom, Eddie Brock struggles to control the bloodthirsty parasite (don't call it a parasite!) within him. Once the symbiote helps him save the world, though, Brock seems to be able to reason with it pretty easily and makes a deal that the creature can only harm and even eat bad people. Venom seems surprisingly OK with this, so does that mean the symbiote's completely tamed now and Eddie won't have any problems controlling it in the future? From what the movie tells us, we think the answer's yes. In the comics, of course, the balance of power between Brock and his other half has continually shifted, but for the sake of giving the character a clear heroic journey, we don't think that's going to happen here. That said, if the sequel's smart enough, it could explore the fact that perhaps Eddie has been corrupted by Venom. He seems totally un-phased by the way the creature swallows up that crook in the store, whereas he was horrified at Venom's violence earlier in the movie. If he comes up against a monster like Carnage next time, it could be interesting to have Eddie question how much Venom has made him a monster, as well. Wait, How Does Stan Lee Know Eddie Brock's Venom? Venom might not be an MCU movie, but it's still associated with Marvel and so it gets to have the customary cameo from Stan Lee himself. The comic book legend appears right at the end of the film when he passes Eddie on the street, right after he's said goodbye to Anne. Lee warns Brock that he shouldn't let her go - both of you. The implication is that Lee's "Dapper Dog Walker," as he's credited as, knows that Eddie's Venom. This is a fun twist on the majority of Lee's cameos, which cast him as a hapless bystander who gets caught up in superhero shenanigans through no fault of his own. Here, Lee seems to be a mischievous, wise soul who's deliberately speaking to someone he knows is special. But how does Lee's random pedestrian know about Eddie's secret? Well, the answer may lie in the Marvel creator's role in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. That cameo made a long-held fan theory canon, which said that Lee was working with the Watchers to spy on the superheroes of Earth, meaning that every character he plays is actually one and the same. How Will Cletus Kasady Become Carnage? Just as we all suspected, the post-credits scene features the debut of Cletus Kasady, the crazed serial killer destined to become Venom's nemesis Carnage. The set-up of the sequence nicely mirrors the villain's origins in the comics as well. Like on the page, Kasady comes into contact with Eddie Brock while he's locked up in jail. The big difference, though, is that the meeting didn't leave him with his own symbiote. In the source material, Venom's pregnant when Eddie encounters Cletus and its progeny, the red Carnage symbiote, bonds with the murderer. While the movie's introduction of Woody Harrelson's Cletus ends with him name-checking the symbiote, there's no hint that he's become infected with it, or that Venom is eating heads for two at this point. So, how will he become Carnage? Well, it's possible the sequel will follow on from this film and see another rogue symbiote travel to Earth in a bid to take it over, following on from where Riot left off. Perhaps this symbiote - a revamped version of Carnage - will make Cletus its host. It'd be a bit of a coincidence that Kasady happens to have already met Venom, but that's definitely one possible explanation.