WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Sony’s Venom, in theaters now.


Much like the trailers promised, Venom is filled with amorphous, alien symbiotes and brutalized thugs, but the fun doesn't stop there. The mid-credits scene depicts a visit by Tom Hardy's Eddie Brock to San Quentin State Prison to interview its most-feared inmate. The red-haired figure welcomes the reporter with a message written in blood, and a chilling declaration: "When I get out of here -- and I will -- there will be carnage." To any fan of Venom, it's clear who Woody Harrelson plays, even if his role isn't explicitly stated: serial killer Cletus Kasaday, who in the comics bonds with the terrifying symbiote Carnage.

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Kasady is a horrifying character, in that he's, simply put, pure evil. Violence is an important part of Carnage, and Marvel Comics fans might assume that when he's inevitably introduced in a sequel, it will require an R rating to properly portray the murderous antagonist. However, it's probable that Venom 2 will be PG-13, just like the original. Still, there's no reason why Carnage can't be depicted as monstrous as his comic book counterpart.

Carnage

In the comics, Eddie was imprisoned until Venom returned to bond with him again, permitting him to escape Ryker's Island. In the process, the symbiote unwittingly left behind its offspring, which merged with Eddie's cellmate, the crazed Cletus Kasaday, and immediately embarked on a killing spree. It required the combined strength of Spider-Man and Venom to defeat Carnage, but that only left the symbiote stronger. The alien bonded to Kasady's bloodstream and, in the 1993 crossover "Maximum Carnage," they broke free again.

That storyline gave us more than just a rampaging, murderous psychopath. It also depicted Carnage as more complex than your average monster. Cletus was a sadist from an early age who, as a child, murdered his grandmother, tried to kill his mother, and tortured and killed the family dog. Abused and abandoned, Cletus continued his homicidal streak through adolescence, going so far as to burn down the orphanage on his way to becoming a full-fledged serial killer. It's an intense, blood-spattered backstory that seems almost impossible to do justice within a PG-13 rating, but the key word is almost.

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If executed correctly, Carnage could be a far more compelling antagonist than the relatively one-dimensional Riot was in Venom.

Maybe it was the limitations imposed on the film by the PG-13 rating, or perhaps it owes simply to poor screenwriting. Bonded with Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), the villainous symbiote displayed little substance, expressing bleak views of humanity's future while coldly killing those around him, In his quest to integrate the symbiotes with mankind, he didn't permit questions of morality to get in his way. There were multiple points in Venom when his character could have been explored, yet the film missed all of those opportunities.

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If Carnage is to succeed in a sequel with a PG-13 rating, the film can't shy away from at least an attempt at exploring Cletus' past. Otherwise, he's simply another antagonist acting as a dark reflection of the protagonist, something audiences have seen time and again. This is the villain fans have been waiting years to see adapted to live-action; expectations are high.

Carnage-Spider-Man-TAS

Without the use of blood or the brutal violence Carnage is known for, is it possible to successfully recreate the character? It's actually been done before, more than two decades ago, in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Fox imposed restrictions on the show, as the network did with all of its cartoons. Blood, guns and words like "kill" or "die" were prohibited, forcing the writers to get creative when introducing Carnage, who appeared in the episodes "Venom Returns" and "Carnage."

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Despite those restrictions, the show was able to capture the essence of Cletus Kasady and his symbiote alter-ego. He was as much of a monster as he was in the comics, even if the animated series didn't explicitly describe his crimes or desires. He still took the lives of dozens, formed deadly weapons with his suit and possessed an almost-nihilistic attitude toward the world. He was every bit as menacing as fans expected him to be.

Those prohibitions aren't anywhere near as tight for Sony. If the filmmakers decided to go the route of constructing a multifaceted villain with Cletus Kasady, there's no reason why they can't accomplish that without an R rating. At the very least, fans will know that Carnage will be just as fun in fight sequences with Venom as he has been in the comics -- they'll just be spared some of the grisly visuals.


Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Venom stars Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott, Jenny Slate,Woody Harrelson, Sope Aluko, Scott Deckert, Marcella Bragio and Michelle Lee. In theaters now.