Venom 2 post-credits spoilers: How comics explain this Marvel movie game-changer

It was going to happen. In 2018, Venom dared to introduce one of the most famous villains in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery, without Spider-Man in the movie. The word “multiverse” wasn’t in popular use back then. But three years later, things have changed.

In the credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, out in theaters October 1, the unthinkable happens when Venom and Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) cross dimensions and find themselves somewhere unfamiliar. But what happened? How did it happen? And most importantly, what does it mean for the future of the Marvel franchises on the big screen?

Buckle up. Here is how the ending and the post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage set up a very interesting near-future for Venom, Spider-Man, and the rest of the Marvel Universe on the big screen.

Warning: Spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage ahead.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage post-credits scene, explained

Halfway through the credits of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Venom and Eddie are kicking back, watching soap operas in a Mexican hotel room. As Venom and Eddie talk about life and love in the universe — y’know, as best friends do — the conversation turns towards something else. Venom tells Eddie that he hasn’t allowed Eddie to see everything symbiotes can see in the universe. To do so would ruin Eddie’s puny brain. But Venom promises to show Eddie a taste.

It’s awkward timing. Just then, things physically change around Eddie. Suddenly, the two find themselves in another hotel room, in another place — and another reality. And there’s something strange playing on the TV. A young man in a red and blue spider costume is on TV, and the broadcast reveals him to be “Spider-Man.”

That’s right. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has a cameo appearance in the credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage! Not only does Venom: Let There Be Carnage take place around the same time as Spider-Man: Far From Home, but Venom has a taste for Peter Parker, with his long tongue licking the TV screen with Peter Parker’s face. (Should we, uh, be worried about this?)

Regardless, it’s finally official: Venom is now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Venom 2 post-credits scene: How did Venom cross into the MCU?

That’s a question no one knows the answer to — yet.

We’ve seen the multiverse crack in the MCU recently. In the finale of Loki on Disney+, Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) takes down He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), which creates breaks in the timeline. We’ve also seen shows like WandaVision, where Wanda leaves yet-to-be-determined damage on the fabric of reality, and movies like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings with the titular Ten Rings picking up a signal somewhere in the multiverse.

In the trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home, which hits theaters in December, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) tries to do Peter Parker a solid by erasing people’s knowledge that he is Spider-Man. However, a nervous Peter ruins the spell-casting, which creates a new reality where some other foes from throughout the multiverse make an appearance.

Whether it’s Sylvie or Doctor Strange, someone has made the multiverse merge. And Venom: Let There Be Carnage is simply the latest movie to show how far and wide changes in the multiverse are reaching. If Venom is even feeling it from a dingy hotel room, who else is feeling it?

Venom 2 post-credits scene: Comics explain Venom’s multiverse connection

As alluded to in the credits scene, Venom tells Eddie that symbiotes contain more knowledge than he’s allowed Eddie to see. But does that mean symbiotes can “see” the multiverse?

The comic books provide little clues. In the comics, symbiotes are all about feeding off their hosts, amplifying emotional traits like aggression. They aren’t exactly psychic, but when bonded to a host, they can read their minds. They’re also able to pass down knowledge from host to host. This is possibly what Venom was going to show Eddie: Pieces of transferred knowledge from hosts Venom has latched onto from all throughout the universe.

There’s a loose connection between the multiverse and symbiotes in their inception, too. In the 1984-1985 comic book crossover Secret Wars, which was driven almost entirely by a need to sell Mattel’s Marvel toys, Spider-Man comes in contact with the symbiote parasite for the first time.

The plot of Secret Wars involved virtually all of the biggest Marvel heroes at the time, including the X-Men and the Avengers, to fight against all their villains on the alien planet Battleworld. Marvel revived the concept in 2015 in a new series also titled Secret Wars. The crossover merged the mainstream Marvel Universe with other alternate universes, namely the parallel Ultimate Marvel universe. Unlike the original Secret Wars, the 2015 story was explicitly a story about the multiverse.

Venom isn’t exactly a character connected to the multiverse, but abstractly, his introduction in the Marvel Universe is a part of it.

Venom 2 post-credits scene: Will Spider-Man meet Venom?

Director Andy Serkis has said on multiple occasions that Spider-Man and Venom will meet; it’s just a matter of when and not if. Furthermore, it’s not clear if Tom Hardy will appear in the multiverse extravaganza that is Spider-Man: No Way Home. (And even if he does, expect the role to be very minimal.) So if Venom fighting Spider-Man is the thing you want to see most in the world, don’t hold your breath for December.

The credits scene of Let There Be Carnage confirms an inevitable confrontation between Spider-Man and Venom. It’s just not known when that will happen.

Whatever happens, though, one thing we can guarantee is that there will be even more carnage.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is now playing in theaters.