A healthy dose of ‘Venom’
Spoiler alert – read at your own risk!
“Venom” distances itself from other superhero films – since Tom Hardy’s parasite-ridden title antihero is a bit sadistic and eats people when hungry – but isn’t different enough to eschew the genre’s oh-so-popular end-credits scenes.
There are in fact two very different epilogues added to “Venom,” which pit investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Hardy) – and the carnivorous alien symbiote that has made a home inside him – against villainous tech billionaire Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed). That dude, a host for the symbiote called Riot, wants to meld man and extraterrestrial to create a higher species.
SPOILER ALERT! We’re discussing plot points integral to the end of “Venom.”
Let’s get into them:
What’s Woody Harrelson doing here?
The first scene ties into something Brock says near the end to his ex-girlfriend Anne (Michelle Williams), who his more Venom-ous side vows to win back. His journalism career is back on track after defeating Drake/Riot, and Brock tells Anne he has scored “the interview of a lifetime.” It pays off in a sequence where Brock drives his motorcycle to San Quentin to sit down with serial killer Cletus Kasady, played by Harrelson wearing a red-haired perm. Kasady wonders if Brock’s there to find out about his “Dada-ist patterns of arterial spray” but also has a warning: “When I get out of here, there’s going to be carnage.” It’s a not-very-subtle hint to Kasady’s comicbook counterpart, who’s possessed by a symbiote and becomes the crimson-colored psychopath Carnage.
Spider-Man shows up! (Though maybe not the one you expect.)
Venom is famously a Spider nemesis in the comics, but while the movie doesn’t have Tom Holland, it does offer up a couple of web-swinging heroes. Before the credits, a comic panel with the words “Meanwhile, in another universe ...” launches a teaser for the animated movie “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (in theaters Dec. 14), which features two main Spideys from alternate dimensions, Peter Parker (voiced by Jake Johnson) and Miles Morales (Shameik Moore).
In the scene, Miles tussles with bad guy Prowler in New York and ends up at the gravesite of his hero, Peter. Miles is shocked to find Peter alive, but before he can figure out what’s happening, the police show up and there’s a humorous, action-packed chase. The two heroes wind up flat on the street, with Miles wearily asking bystanders to lend a hand and everyone just walking by. “Thanks, New York,” he groans.