Any self-respecting blockbuster sequel is obligated to up the ante significantly, and we already know that Venom: Let There Be Carnage is planning to do that by at least tripling down on symbiotes. The first installment only featured Tom Hardy’s title hero and Riz Ahmed’s Carlton Drake morphing into Riot, but the most recent trailer promised that the stakes are going to be raised significantly.
Not only are we getting Woody Harrelson on what looks to be phenomenally scenery-devouring form as Cletus Kasady and Carnage, but Naomie Harris has also been confirmed as Shriek, with human host Frances Barrison typically being depicted as Kasady’s lover and dedicated follower.
However, there’s been a recurring line of inquiry that Let There Be Carnage could end up gifting audiences with one more symbiote, and Toxin has been the name on everyone’s lips. An offspring of Carnage, similar to how Kasady’s alter-ego is itself born from Venom, the alien life form first bonded with decorated but troubled police officer Patrick Mulligan.
While his first name hasn’t been officially as of yet, Stephen Graham just so happens to play a cop named Mulligan in the Venom sequel, so it wouldn’t require the connecting of too many narrative dots. In a new interview, Hardy was asked about the Toxin speculation, and while he refused to give away any specifics, he hardly shot it down in flames, either.
“I’ve got to be careful how I speak, because I’m a studio man. I’m an exec! Believe it or not.”
As the leading man, producer and co-writer of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Hardy wasn’t going to give the game away ahead of time, but we’ll find out for ourselves later than expected when the second salvo from the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters hopefully arrives on October 15th.