The anti-hero Venom is hulking, vicious, has lots of pointy teeth, and has been known to turn men into turds in the wind. He’s hard to take down, so it’s understandable that for the sequel Woody Harrelson’s villainous Cletus Kasaday/Carnage will need to team up with someone in order to come out victorious, and reports are now surfacing that the movie will give him that second in command with the character Shriek.
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Deadline got the scoop that Sony is looking to add Shriek to the mix, joining Carnage after he was teased in the mid-credits sequence of the first movie. Introduced in 1993’s “Spider-Man Unlimited”, the antagonist is not just a fellow baddie but is also Carnage’s love interest and oft partner in crime. Formerly Frances Barrison, her powers include super-sonic energy blasts and the ability to invade the minds of others and cause torment. So, think a combination of Scarlet Witch, Harley Quinn, and pepper in a look akin to Domino from the comics.
When we met Kasaday he was locked in prison and Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock was about to interview him for a piece. There is the matter of getting the serial killer out of prison so that he may go toe-to-toe with Brock’s Venom, and perhaps that’s where Shriek will come into play. No word on casting yet, but sources told Deadline Sony may be looking at an unknown for the gig.
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Sony is leaning rather heavily into their cinematic universe of comic book movies, having a deep well of Spider-Man characters to pull from. There's a Morbius the Living Vampire movie in the work with Jared Leto in the lead role, as well as plans for a Kraven the Hunter movie. When Sony and Marvel originally failed to come to terms for more Spidey in the MCU it was largely believed the character would be fully integrated into Sony's movie universe. While the two studios came to an agreement for more MCU web-slinging, it's still believed that he will crossover with Venom at some point.
With the inclusion of Shriek into the VENOM sequel it seems Sony is looking for all the characters they can to flesh out their movie realm, and along with Carnage, this should get comic book fans excited for the new movie, this time from director Andy Serkis (taking over for Ruben Fleischer from the first movie). But perhaps Venom needs his own partner to team up with, so who knows, maybe Leto's Morbius will come out of the shadows at the last minute for a final showdown, all while Silver Sable, Black Cat, Kraven eat some popcorn and watch from a rooftop. Alls fair in cinematic world-building.
VENOM 2 is set for October 2, 2020.