Goodbye Venom, hello Anti-Venom?

Tom Hardy is back, and so is Venom, and yes, the two are still the same. Sony released the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance earlier today, and it seemingly puts our beloved Eddie Brock in the face of a disaster that he simply cannot escape from, without dying. The trailer gives fans an insight into what they can expect from the upcoming movie, and needless to say, it does not suggest a happy ending for Venom, or Brock.

However, there is still an outlined way in which Sony can continue with the overall series, in the sense that Venom might be headed towards death, but it can easily give rise to Anti-Venom, the original symbiote’s symbiotic brother in the comics. Much more of an anti-hero than the Venom we have gotten used to in the Tomy Hardy series, this route represents a way to continue the series without breaking the initial promise that The Last Dance, is indeed Venom’s last dance in the Sony series.

Venom: The Last Dance trailer suggests fateful death for Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock

The trailer depicts a poignant tale set to the tune of David Bowie’s Space Oddity. It opens with a listless Eddie Brock killing a bunch of criminals, and immediately delves into the kind of humor the Tom Hardy series has stuck to right from the start. Venom and Brock struggle to cooperate with each other, and end up mis-introducing themselves even after several attempts.

Brock claims that they need to work on it, as the trailer then delves into the narration itself. Venom is hunted by the US Army, as it explains how the two are no longer mere travellers, but fugitives on the run.

As it turns out, the reason the US Army is on the hunt for the symbiote is that the planet is under attack by an army of symbiotes, as Chiwetel Ejiofor’s army character explains to Juno Temple’s Dr. Payne how there is a war on the horizon, ‘which cannot be won.’

The trailer eventually delves into Venom’s fight with a monstrous symbiote that has seemingly arrived from outer space. The two characters fight it out over a flying airplane.

However, it is clear that Eddie Brock and Venom are in over their head, and seemingly are preparing for a battle that is going to end with their death. The trailer also sees horse-Venom, and promises a thoroughly entertaining narrative which is bound to increase the hype for the upcoming movie.

However, by itself, there is an obvious connection with the trailer, and Anti-Venom.

Why does it make sense to bring in Anti-Venom?

Anti-Venom, in the New Ways to Die comic arc, is formed when Venom attempts to fuse again with Eddie Brock after his cancer is cured by Martin Li. This however, leads to Brock’s skin turning caustic, after which the remnants of the Venom symbiote fuse together with the white blood cells in Brock’s blood, to form a brother symbiote.

This is the white Anti-Venom, a symbiote hunter who fights and kills evil symbiotes who attack the planet. Are there similarities? Yes.

Venom has never been the strongest symbiote, and one look at the symbiote he is fighting in the trailer, who we assume is none other than Patrick Mulligan’s Toxin, is enough to tell us that Brock’s friend is losing this fight. That, in addition to the fact that there are plenty of other symbiotes that have put the planet under threat, means that Venom is indeed way over his head, in all ways possible.

This simply suggests that he needs a power upgrade, and considering that is something that has already happened in the comics, we not only believe Sony has an obvious opportunity to create another trilogy, it is also the only way in which Tom Hardy’s character realistically comes out of this one, alive.

The same cannot be said about Venom itself, although Anti-Venom is portrayed to have all of Venom’s memories and character traits, some extraordinary powers, and well, a cancer-free Eddie Brock.

Venom: The Last Dance releases in theaters on October 25, 2024.