Venom and Eddie Have an “Odd Couple” Quarrel in Let There Be Carnage Vignitte

The “odd couple” of host Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and alien symbiote Venom (also Hardy) have some growing pains in a behind-the-scenes vignette with Venom 2 director Andy Serkis. More than a year after bonding to become a lethal protector, the anti-hero Venom, the pair have their “seven-year itch” just as a new threat breaks loose: incarcerated serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson). When the convict gets a taste of Eddie and bonds with red symbiotic offspring to become an ultra-lethal killing machine, Eddie and Venom must put their differences aside for the fight of their lives. And there’s going to be carnage. 

“In this movie, it’s like the seven-year itch in the cycle of a relationship. You’ve got two characters that are literally stuck with each other,” says Serkis, who takes over from Venom director Ruben Fleischer. “That odd couple relationship was what this movie was always going to be about, as a progression from the first one. It’s like living with an over-sized toddler.”

Venom wants to fight crime and snack on bad guys, Eddie wants to reignite his career as an investigative journalist, but two beings in the same body means “they have had enough of each other” come Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

“They can’t be together, can’t be apart. Eddie’s far too selfish, Venom just wants to be the hero,” Serkis notes. “Watching Tom as Venom and Eddie was so much fun.” 

At the heart of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe spin-off is a “love story,” with producer Avi Arad calling the central relationship between man and symbiote “a complicated marriage.”

“The film is a love story – but not the love story you might think,” Serkis said in Venom 2 production notes previously revealed by Sony. “It’s very much about the extraordinary relationship between symbiote and host. Any love affair has its pitfalls, its high points and low points; Venom and Eddie’s relationship absolutely causes problems and stress, and they have a near-hatred for each other.”

Serkis added: “But they have to be with each other – they can’t live without each other. That’s companionship, love, the things that relationships are really about.”

Starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, and Woody Harrelson, Venom: Let There Be Carnage opens only in theaters on October 1.