WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, now playing in theaters.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage forces the lethal protectors to get creative when defeating Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) and the Carnage symbiote. The film's exciting final fight sees the two battling in a church as Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and Venom fight to save Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) from Carnage and Shriek (Naomie Harris). During the fight, a moment takes place that calls back to Peter Parker's final battle in Spider-Man 3.
Spider-Man 3 was the first live-action film to feature the symbiote on both Peter and Eddie Brock. When the suit nearly takes total control of Peter, he goes to a church in an attempt to remove it once and for all. However, in his struggle, Peter collides with a massive bell, and the sonic vibrations weaken the symbiote enough for him to pull it off completely.
During the film's final fight, a pile of pipes in the construction site they're fighting in falls, emitting a sound that weakens Venom. Peter's experience in the church helps him defeat Venom as he takes the pipes and uses them to cage the symbiote. He then runs around the circle, banging on the pipes with one he is holding until he can pull Eddie Brock free. Peter's quick thinking allows him to defeat the symbiote before it entirely takes over Eddie or anyone else.
In Venom 2, a similar moment involving bells takes place. During their battle with Carnage, a church bell comes loose and starts ringing. Each bellow rattles the symbiotes and forces them to hide within their hosts. As a result, Cletus and Eddie are forced to fight as humans from time to time. The sequence lasts for a short time before Carnage pulls the bell off its housing to end the ringing.
Visually, the scene shows the symbiotes vibrating like disturbed water, representing their pain and overall discomfort. The look is very reminiscent of the symbiote's reaction in Spider-Man 3 when it tried to pull itself away from its host to get away from the sound. While these symbiotes are from different universes, it shows that specific actions yield similar results no matter the reality.
The Venom franchise owes a lot to what Spider-Man 3 did for the character. While it wasn't the most beloved iteration of the character, it helped to show one way the character could be portrayed. From there, the Venom films have grown into their own entity and evolved what worked initially into something even better. This is best shown in the brief scene where the bells call back to the final battle from a film that was released 14 years ago.
To see Venom and Eddie face off against Carnage and Cletus, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is in theaters now.