Venom: Let There Be Carnage Fans Freaking Out Over Post-Credits Scene After Screening Event

Venom: Let There Be Carnage has Marvel fans freaking out about a post-credits scene that was supposedly shown during a recent preview screening event. There is a litany of reactions to the rumored screening now on social media, including quite a few that focus on Venom 2's post-credits button scene, which is touted as a surprise that will make fans "scream." Sony Pictures is hard at work on its Sony Spider-Man Universe (SSU) brand at the moment, and Venom is one of the main lynchpins in that franchise. So what could Let There Be Carnage be doing to set up the next chapters of the series? 

What Is Venom 2's Post-Credits Scene? 

Marvel fans are going to hear about Venom: Let There Be Carnage's post-credits scene and immediately jump to one conclusion: Tom Holland's Spider-Man is going to make his long-awaited appearance in the film. While Venom has been a standalone series so far, there have been several Easter egg hints that it has ties to the Spider-Man movie universe, and or Marvel Universe. None of those ties have been made official, but Venom 2 could be the moment that changes all that. 

The timing is certainly auspicious: thanks to events of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the next Spider-Man movie will see Tom Holland's Peter Parker facing a broken multiverse that sends alternate versions of evil villains (from past films) gunning for him. It's widely presumed that the story of Spider-Man: No Way Home will set up a new Spider-Verse that finally lays the narrative foundation for Tom Hardy's Venom and Holland's Spider-Man finally being a part of one shared reality. 

That's all to say: the Venom: Let There Be Carnage post-credits scene could conceivably include a cameo from Tom Holland's Spider-Man. But, it's not the *only* option on the table. 

The other possibility is that Venom: Let There Be Carnage could simply setup the next storyline for Woody Harrelson's Cletus Kasady/Carnage. Has several big crossover event storylines in Marvel Comics, and any of them would be worthy enough to bring Hardy's Venom and Holland's Spider-man together with any number of other SSU characters. If Venom: Let There Be Carnage's post-credits scene simply name-drops "Maximum Carnage" or "Absolute Carnage" it would be a dog-whistle to Marvel Comics fans that the big Spider-Man/Venom team-up event IS coming... eventually.  

Who Else Could Appear In Venom 2's Post-Credits Scene? 

As stated, Sony is building an entire SSU franchise, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage is exactly the kind of platform they can use to launch the next chapter of that franchise. Jared Leto's Morbius and Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Kraven The Hunter are the next two characters on deck to have their own solo films - and Let There Be Carnage could set up either of them. Seeing Leto's Morbius or Johnson's Kraven appear onscreen at the end of Venom would be the first big moment that Sony's SSU feels like a connected Universe. It would also spark interest in the next films coming in 2022 and 2023. 

That could be exactly what Venom 2 director Andy Serkis was hinting at when he said that while Spider-Man and Venom WILL meet eventually, there are a lot of other character crossovers that would be fun to do first: 

"Look, it depends when you want to get there, and also, what the appetite is," Serkis explains. "If people want more Venom stories, then, to jump straight to Spider-Man, you could be missing out on so many great supervillain characters in between now and then. So, in a way, by rushing to it, you might be closing the door."

Finally, Let There Be Carnage is introducing other Marvel villains like Toxin and Shriek - forces that could unite into their own squad of killers that Venom and Spider-Man could have to beat. Venom 2 may just be the first introduction. 

Venom: Let There Be Carnage hits theaters on October 1st.