'Venom' Carnage Ending Spoilers: How Woody Harrelson Sets Up 'Venom 2'

Even if it’s not from Marvel Studios, Sony’s Venom still feels like a Marvel film thanks to two bonus scenes tucked away in the credits. While the final post-credits scene is a thrilling new teaser for Into the Spider-Verse, it’s the mid-credits scene that will have fans talking when they exit the theater.

Because it’s in the mid-credits where Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock/Venom meets somebody even more monstrous and dangerous than he. Someone who would rather paint the town red than eat brains.

Don’t Miss: ‘Venom’ Movie Review

As the internet rumor mill previously speculated, one of Spider-Man and Venom’s most notorious enemies is introduced in the film’s mid-credits.

Spoilers for Venom ahead.

At the end of Venom, Eddie Brock (Hardy) is on the path to resurrecting his journalism career after landing the interview of a lifetime. In the mid-credits scene, Brock pulls into San Quentin, the oldest and most notorious prison in California. Very quickly, Venom becomes a superhero Silence of the Lambs as Brock approaches his subject, who has written “WELCOME EDDIE” in his cell.

The red-haired prisoner turns, revealing himself to be the deranged serial killer Cletus Kasady. And as he eerily looks into the camera, he teases that when he gets out, “There’s going to be carnage.”

But that’s not even the best part. The best thing about this is that he’s played by WOODY HARRELSON (who previously worked with Venom director Ruben Fleischer in 2009’s Zombieland).

Who Is Carnage?

Carnage is a Slipknot CD turned into a Marvel villain. Defining early ‘90s comics in all the worst ways, Carnage is the red symbiote villain of Spider-Man and Venom, who is even more evil than the “anti-hero” Venom.

Making his full debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #361, Carnage is Cletus Kasady, a serial killer who becomes even more sadistic when he forms a bond with the “offspring” of Eddie’s symbiote. Because of Kasady’s nasty tendencies, his symbiote bond is stronger than Eddie’s Venom, resulting in a far more powerful nemesis for Spider-Man.

As a serial murderer, some of Kasady’s victims include his own mother (whom he murdered with a hair dryer), his grandmother (pushed down a flight of stairs), his dog (power drill), a girl who laughed at him when he asked her out (pushed her into a bus), and an entire orphanage (arson).

That was all before he became Carnage, mind you.

A short year after his debut, Carnage was the primary villain of the Spider-Man crossover series Maximum Carnage, where Carnage breaks out of Ravencroft Asylum and recruits a team of villains. Forced to put aside their differences, Spider-Man and Venom join heavy-hitters like Captain America, Iron Fist, Morbius, Black Cat, and Cloak and Dagger to stop him.

This storyline was soon adapted into the video game Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.

As for the new Venom universe, Carnage will obviously play the villain in a sequel, should there be one depending on the film’s box office success. And without Spider-Man in this continuity, it seems only Venom will stand against another gooey alien monster with sharp teeth. Still, it’s pretty rad knowing that gooey monster will be played by Woody Harrelson.

Venom is in theaters now.

See also: Eric Francisco reviews ‘Venom’