On the week of the first day of Fall later this year, comic book readers can not only look forward to the first leaf hitting the ground but also the release of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. This, of course, will be the second movie in the Venom franchise and a sequel to the Tom Hardy-led Venom from 2018. The Spidey-less movie of the popular Spider-Man character grossed $856,085,151 worldwide, so expectations are high, to say the least.
Expectations are not only high financially, but also critically for fans anxious to see the returning Tom Hardy and his Venom take on Woody Harrelson's Carnage. But if fans are too hyped to contain themselves until September 24th, there's some ample reading material to hold them over for the next four months.
10 Venom: Lethal Protector Is The First To Introduce New Symbiotes
Venom: Lethal Protector is a series notable for being the first to paint the title character in a more heroic light, but it is also the first to introduce new symbiotes.
Since the Venom symbiote debuted in Tom DeFalco, Roger Stern, and Ron Frenz's Amazing Spider-Man #252 by bonding to Peter Parker, it's held as a staple as the only numero uno symbiote in town for the longest time. Amazing Spider-Man #361 by David Michelinie and Mark Bagley saw that symbiote create a new offspring called Carnage, but Lethal Protector establishes multiple new symbiotes: Riot, Agony, Lasher, Scream, and Phage. Riot was in the last movie, but the rest may either be teased or appear in Let There Be Carnage.
9 Separation Anxiety Focuses On A Similar Murderer
Speaking of Riot, Agony, Lasher, Scream, and Phage, they make another appearance together in the comics in Venom: Separation Anxiety, which is a four-parter where Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote are separated. The five aforementioned symbiotes try to convince Brock to bond back with the symbiote.
This later turns into a murder mystery when Agony is killed, soon revealed to be Agony's own doing under the realization that all symbiotes are too evil to keep alive.
8 Planet Of The Symbiotes Has Already Been Teased
The seeds were planted in the first Venom movie for an adaptation of Planet of the Symbiotes to somehow wiggle its way into the ensuing franchise. In fact, ideas like a symbiote hopping from host to host to cause chaos (as seen through Riot's actions) are taken directly from Planet of the Symbiotes.
Judging by the trailer, Let There Be Carnage is going to be busy teasing Toxin's debut and focusing on Carnage and Venom duking it out, but Planet of the Symbiotes may be unleashed for the third entry - confirmed already by Tom Hardy to Total Film Magazine, h/t Comic Book - so it wouldn't hurt to brush up on the source material in case this story gets set up in Let There Be Carnage.
7 Venom Vs Carnage Already Parallels The Movie
The trailer to Venom: Let There Be Carnage offered a lot of imagery that itself offers some fun speculation for what will come when the movie is officially released, such as Venom and Carnage's actual fight as well as a detective named Mulligan.
Judging by what appears in the trailer, the movie is going to take a lot of spiritual inspiration from the Venom vs. Carnage series, which not only saw the two prime symbiotes tussle but introduced a new symbiote: Toxin, who possesses a police officer named Patrick Mulligan.
6 Project Rebirth Introduces Agent Venom
Based on the destruction that both Venom and Riot caused in the first movie and taking a guess at the type of destruction the title character is bound to cause with Carnage in the sequel, it won't be long before symbiotes have the government's attention. When they do, it'd be logical to set up a threequel storyline where the government tries to either combat the symbiote or weaponize it.
In the Project Rebirth storyline, detailed in Venom Vol. 2 by Rick Remender and Tony Moore, the government does both when they recruit crippled war veteran Flash Thompson to don their symbiote-fused suit, operating under Agent Venom.
5 The Hunger Portrays Eddie Brock At His Most Tormented
This is another story where Eddie Brock is separated from his Venom symbiote, but this time, rather than some obscure outside force tearing them apart, they were separated by the symbiote's choice when the two couldn't agree on the state of brains. The symbiote wanted to chow down on humans and their brains, but Eddie, understandably, declined.
This proves to be bad timing as Eddie himself is locked in an insane asylum while the Venom symbiote is causing some carnage of its own on the outside.
4 The Venom Agenda Is A Fun Break From The Madness
For those who think the stories mentioned so far sound just a little too dark or morbid for them to stomach, readers may want to dive into something lighter like Spider-Man: The Venom Agenda by Larry Hama and Tom Lyle.
This fun little one-shot pits Spider-Man and Venom against each other once more, but this time, it's a bad day for Spidey who spends the whole issue fighting a cold as much as he fights Venom. Venom, by the way, also serves as a pawn in the schemes of Agent Smith, who hires Brock to scare J. Jonah Jameson - who is as hilarious as ever throughout the issue - away from a certain story.
3 The Last Temptation Of Eddie Brock Makes Him Easy To Root For
More often than not, even before he gets attached to his symbiote, Eddie Brock is portrayed as being a bit of a jerk and, to some extent, a jock. Several stories have come and gone attempting to humanizing the man behind the black goo, but none have come as successful as this two-parter.
In it, Eddie Brock is anxious to finally get rid of his dark half and suppress his demons once and for all. After selling his symbiote to Mac Gargan (aka The Scorpion) and giving the money to charity, a cancer-stricken Brock is left to die alone in a hospital bed. It's an ultimately tragic look into the psyche of Eddie Brock that's hard not to sympathize with.
2 New Ways To Die Introduces Anti-Venom
Speaking of Mac Gargan's Venom, he is the central host to the Venom symbiote in the New Ways to Die storyline, but that doesn't mean that Eddie Brock doesn't return to take center stage. Mister Negative cures Eddie of his cancer, but when his newly healthy body rejects his returning symbiote, it spawns a new offspring called Anti-Venom.
As Anti-Venom, Eddie tries to walk the path of good by using his powers to cure sick patients, but not before he's forced into a fight against his original Venom symbiote, now hosted by Gargan.
1 Space Knight Takes Venom To Space
All iconic movie characters find their way into space if they run long enough. Jason Voorhees, Leprechaun, Pinhead, and many more have ended up in space. Tom Hardy's Venom maybe next sooner rather than later, but unlike the aforementioned characters, it could actually make sense. Not only because symbiotes hail from an alien race, but Flash Thompson already set the precedent when he became a Space Knight.
The series also takes an interesting turn by introducing a crop of space knights filled with symbiotes looking for redemption, who call themselves the Agents of the Cosmos.