'Venom' post-credit scenes explained (spoilers)

Venom finally opens in cinemas today, and like all comic book movies these days the Spider-Man spin-off comes loaded with multiple post-credit sequences for fans to sink their teeth into.

We’re happy to tell you there are two credit stings in Venom, so stay in your seats until the lights come up.

Incoming Venom spoilers ahoy!

The first sting pops up midway through the final credits. It has Tom Hardy’s investigative journalist Eddie Brock visiting San Quentin prison to interview serial killer Cletus Kasady, played by Woody Harrelson.

Well-versed comic book aficionados will no doubt realise that Kasady is the first host of the Carnage symbiote – Venom’s more powerful offspring – and the sequence ends with Kasady himself teasing that when he gets out: “There will be… Carnage”.

Carnage is Venom’s most famous adversary and the symbiotes have fought on the page numerous times, so it’s not surprising that Sony are looking to sow the seeds of that conflict for future movies.

Carnage is a far more dangerous symbiote than Venom in large part because its host is already an accomplished criminal before they bond.

While this version of Venom is more of an anti-hero – even the trailers have shown Brock insisting that the symbiote should only harm criminals – Carnage lives only for destruction. Furthermore, the bond between Carnage and Kasady in the comics is stronger than the one between Venom and Brock, with the former referring to themselves as “I” instead of “We”.

It’s still unclear exactly how this version of Carnage will come to be – although the Venom symbiote inches its way closer to Kasady during the sequence – but a fight between the two parasites seems inevitable.

Should the Sony universe ever merge with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, mutual hatred of Carnage might even mean a Spider-Man and Venom team up somewhere down the line. But for that to become a reality Venom will need to do big business at the box office, and that’s far from a sure thing.

Venom’s post-credit sting

The second, and far more entertaining sting comes at the end of the credits and it’s an extended preview of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the animated Spider-feature that Sony is set to release this Christmas.

The scene starts out with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) being chased through New York traffic by a black-clad villain before transitioning into another chase sequence involving Miles, cops, and a Peter Parker from an alternate universe.

In addition to being funny, the extended footage was visually stunning on multiple levels.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait much longer to find out if it’s the perfect snapshot of the full feature, as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse hits cinemas in December.

Venom is out now.

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