‘Venom’: Woody Harrelson’s Role Revealed

Venom is now in theaters (read our full review HERE), and Marvel fans are eager to learn all the details of how Sony adaptation of the Venom character and origin. One of the biggest mysteries that was dangled in front of fans during Venom‘s production was the presence of Woody Harrelson in the cast, playing a role that hasn’t been revealed. Now, having seen the film ourselves, we know exactly how Harrelson fits into Venom‘s storyline.

WARNING: Obviously there will be MAJOR SPOILERS that follow!

As it turns out, Woody Harrelson doesn’t appear in the actual main plotline of Venom, but rather in its first post-credits sequence. That sequence sees Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) getting back on his feet as a journalist, and getting a major opportunity when a convicted serial killer taps him for an exclusive interview. Eddie travels to the prison where the killer is being held, and locked deep away in solitary confinement, is one Cletus Kasady (Harrelson, wearing a woefully bad red wig).

Just as Marvel fans predicted early on, Woody Harrelson is the movie version of Kasady, the sadistic sociopath who eventually gets his own symbiote suit and becomes the unstoppable monster Carnage. In this Venom post-credits scene, Kasady makes his twisted ways known, by carving out a bloody welcome message for Eddy, using the blood from his own forearm. He wants to talk openly and honestly with Eddie, foregoing the usual serial killer psycho act, which he describes as being able to articulate things like the beauty of “arterial spray” from a flash artery. Eddie states that he’s game for a venture into that abyss that is Kasady’s head, and sits down for the interview. Kasady in turn promises that when he gets out (“when,” not “if), there “will be Carnage.” [Cue Marvel fans rolling their eyes at such on-the-nose name-dropping.]

Carnage’s initial origin in the comics came when Eddie Brock was locked up in an adjacent prison cell to Cletus Kasady. Unbeknown to Eddie, his symbiote was capable of reproducing, and created an offspring that worked its way through the prison plumbing, finally finding its way to Kasady. It seems with this movie scenario of Eddie now doing an interview (or series of interviews) with Kasady, a similar Carnage origin could occur, if on one visit to the prison, Eddie’s symbiote leaves something behind, and Kasady suddenly gets his “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

Ironically enough, a lot of fans were more excited about the prospect of seeing Harrelson suit up as Carnage in the Venom sequel than they were about anything in the actual film. For my own part, there’s one great scene that could feature Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson, that this post-credits scene is already sort of teasing:

If Venom does well enough, maybe we’ll even get an appearance from Spider-Man and do the whole “Maximum Carnage” crossover from the comics, using other characters from Sonys’ Spider-Man universe. Would you like that?

Venom is now in theaters.