Venom: Let There Be Carnage Trailer Daily Bugle Connects To Spider-Man And Avengers

Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s first trailer has dropped a nice little Easter egg that connects Venom 2 to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie trilogy. That Easter egg comes in the form of the Daily Bugle newspaper which pops up in a shot of the policeman character played by Stephen Graham, at around 1:15 in the trailer. That newspaper is designed to be a mirror image of the Daily Bugle papers that characters were seen reading around Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man Universe, during the run of his trilogy. Marvel fans are eagerly looking to see how Venom fits in a larger franchise universe, so this is a fun tease for them.

As you can see from the side-by-side comparison above, the designs of those Daily Bugle papers are indeed equivalent. If you check one of the top replies that’s also included in the conversation thread, it’s also clear (as Graham’s character slams his paper shut in anger) that there is also what looks like a reference to the Avengers and one of their battles.

Sony has been continuously blurring the line between its “Universe of Marvel Characters” franchise and the actual Marvel Studios franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Venom has skirted the line of having to stake its place in the larger franchise by operating in a completely standalone fashion. According to Venom 2 director Andy Serkis, the characters in Venom: Let There Be Carnage are still (officially) unaware that Spider-Man even exists:

“Obviously, there are links between Venom and Spider-Man in the Marvel Universe and the Spider-Man story, but in this, we’re treating this very much as it’s his own world, the Venom story is his own world,” Serkis told IGN. “There are nods and little moments just like this, the newspaper Daily Bugle, of course, but on the whole, he’s unaware, they’re unaware, at this point of other characters like Spider-Man. So that’s the way we’ve chosen to play this particular episode of the movie but well we’ll wait and see what little things you can pick out of it.”

If the end of Serkis’ quote is any indication, this Daily Bugle paper in Venom: Let There Be Carnage could actually turn out to be a link between Venom being officially established in a larger universe. Sony and Marvel Studios’ relationship will hit another pivot-point after Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives in December. If Sony wants its Spider-Man Universe to have event film-level appeal, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man (and all his MCU ties) may end up sharing the screen with Tom Hardy’s Venom.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be in theaters on September 24th.