Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage! If you haven't already, be sure to check out IGN's full review of the sequel.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage finally brings one of the most iconic superhero comic rivalries to the big screen, as Tom Hardy's Venom takes on Woody Harrelson's Carnage. Two symbiotes enter a church, and only one leaves in the end.
While we're hardly surprised to see Venom emerge victorious from this super-powered brouhaha, it is a bit shocking to see Harrelson's twisted character killed off in the final battle. Would Sony really kill off Venom's deadliest foe this early into the franchise?
Maybe not. Let's break down Carnage's sometimes bizarre comic book background and why death never really seems to stick with him. And in the process, we'll see why Carnage's return isn't just possible, but even necessary.
Cletus Kasady's Wild Ride
Few major characters in the Marvel Universe seem to stay dead forever, and that's certainly been true for Cletus Kasady and the Carnage symbiote. That trend really began in 2000's Peter Parker: Spider-Man #13, where Venom reabsorbed the Carnage symbiote into his body and a distraught Kasady stooped to painting himself red in a vain attempt at reclaiming his lost power. Fortunately for him (if not the rest of the world), the last surviving traces of the symbiote were later able to guide Kasady into the Negative Zone to regenerate itself.
Later, in 2004's New Avengers #2, the reborn Carnage finally meets his match in The Sentry. This Superman-level hero drags Carnage into orbit and rips him in half, leaving the remains to either freeze in the vacuum of space or burn up in reentry. Only years later did fans learn the symbiote managed to stay alive and preserve Kasady's body (the upper half, at least).
This Darth Maul-style makeover would be just the first in a series of bizarre transformations for Carnage. The symbiote even bonded with other hosts, like Dr. Karl Malus and Norman Osborn, the latter rebranding himself "Red Goblin." Venom destroyed and reabsorbed carnage once again in the climax of 2019's Absolute Carnage, but by now we know it's just a matter of time until the character returns in some form or another.
That probably goes for the movie franchise as well. There's no reason Harrelson couldn't reprise the role in a future sequel. At the very least, the symbiote itself may live on even after the death of its host.
Let There Be Carnage establishes that the Carnage symbiote bonded with Kasady's blood, meaning that some trace of it could still linger within Kasady's decapitated corpse. What's to stop it from regenerating that missing head? Or the symbiote could still exist within Venom, waiting for the right opportunity to reassert its independence.
Detective Mulligan and Toxin
As we've already explored, the movie certainly seems to be setting up Stephen Graham's character Detective Mulligan for a major role in the inevitable Venom 3. Mulligan survives his run-in with Shriek and even shows signs that he's gained superhuman powers in the process.
As comic book readers probably know, Mulligan becomes the host of Toxin, the offspring of the Venom and Carnage symbiotes. Toxin is stronger than either symbiote parent, which compels both Venom and Carnage to seek out their "child." Venom hopes to train Toxin as his new partner, whereas Carnage merely wants to destroy what he sees as an enemy.
This alone suggests Carnage still has a big part to play in the Venom movies. Toxin is one of the few symbiote characters who actually qualifies as a hero, so Venom 3 would have to make some major changes to the source material in order to position Toxin as an antagonist. We have to assume a Toxin-centric movie would revolve around a similar dynamic, with venom seeing this new symbiote as an ally and a rejuvenated Carnage viewing him as a threat. And poor Mulligan will be caught in the middle.
All Roads Lead to Knull?
Marvel's most recent Venom series made some sweeping, ambitious changes to the symbiote mythology, in the process going a long way toward distancing Eddie Brock and his partner from the Spider-Man franchise. It's probably only a matter of time before the Venom movies start dabbling in that new mythology, and that could be another way of bringing Carnage back into the fold.
According to this new back-story, the symbiotes were created by Knull, an ancient god who existed in the void before the Big Bang. Ever since the light of creation interrupted his slumber, Knull has been hellbent on destroying all life and returning the universe to infinite nothingness. He's basically the god of the symbiotes.
As a nihilistic serial killer, Carnage is quite fond of Knull. Kasady is revealed to have briefly died at birth and communed with the symbiote god, with that experience helping to shape his disturbing worldview. Venom: Let There Be Carnage never dwells very long on the scribbles in Kasady's prison cell, but it's possible there are references to Knull hidden somewhere.
The aforementioned Absolute Carnage crossover revolves around Carnage's quest to kill every person who ever bonded with a symbiote and reabsorb the traces of the symbiote codex in their blood. Doing so will allow him to achieve his full power and finally commune with Knull again. Though Venom ultimately kills Carnage at the end of the story, he's too slow to stop Carnage from awakening Knull and luring the dark god to Earth. That's the foundation for the sequel, 2020's King in Black.
Regardless of how closely the Venom movies follow this source material, Knull is too big a villain not to include at some point. And you can't really get to Knull without Carnage paving the way in blood first.
Do you think we've seen the last of Carnage? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. And for more on the film, here's how to watch Venom 2. And get the scoop on Venom's release date dilemma while you're at it. Oh, and our Venom 2 WTF Questions is also worth a look!
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.