The first trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage dropped today, and fans are going crazy for it. In particular, everyone’s loving our first look at Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady AKA the titular Carnage. But what a lot of folks are missing is that the promo actually introduced another character who becomes a symbiote host in the comics.
If you’re wondering who Stephen Graham’s beleaguered cop is, that’s Peter Mulligan AKA Toxin. In the source material, Toxin is Carnage’s offspring, the 1000th child to come from Venom’s genetic line. Because of this, Carnage believes it could be more powerful than any other and attempts to kill it. The young Toxin accidentally bonds to Mulligan, who finds himself threatened by both Venom and Carnage. Spider-Man teams up with him to take the two on, however, and Mulligan actually became an ally to Peter Parker until he was murdered by Blackheart. During Flash Thompson’s period as Venom, Eddie Brock was the new host for Toxin for a time.
It’s hard to say how Mulligan’s arc in the movie will play out, but from what we can tell in the trailer, he’s on Kasady’s trail after the serial killer escapes prison. This suggests he may make an uneasy alliance with Brock in order to stop Carnage. Putting him in the middle of the two symbiotes might also lead him to bond with one himself and become Toxin.
Mulligan’s appearance in the trailer is notable for the clip depicting him reading a copy of The Daily Bugle as well. Not only does this spell the return of the iconic newspaper, but it also contains a headline mentioning the Avengers, further tying Sony’s Marvel universe into the MCU. That leaves us wondering yet again whether Tom Holland may show up as Spider-Man. Could the sequel’s final showdown feature Venom, Carnage, Toxin and Spidey?
We’ll find out when Venom: Let There Be Carnage hits theaters on September 24th.
